The Women of the Arabs | Page 6

Houris of Paradise." Paradise is thus held up to the
women as the reward of obedience to their husbands, and this is about
the sum and substance of what the majority of Moslem women know
about religion.
Women are never admitted to pray with men in public, being obliged to
perform their devotions at home, or if they visit the Mosques, it must
be at a time when the men are not there, for the Moslems are of opinion
that the presence of women inspires a different kind of devotion from

that which is desirable in a place set apart for the worship of God.
The Moslem idea of woman is vile and degraded. A Moslem absent
from home never addresses a letter to his wife, but to his son or brother,
or some male relative. It is considered a grievous insult to ask a
Moslem about the health of his wife. If obliged to allude to a woman in
conversation, you must use the word "ajellak Allah," "May God elevate
you" above the contamination of this subject! You would be expected
to use the same expression in referring to a donkey, a dog, a shoe, a
swine or anything vile. It is somewhat like the Irish expression, "Saving
your presence, sir," when alluding to an unpleasant subject.
A Greek christian (?) in Tripoli came to an American Missionary
physician and said, "there is a woman, 'ajell shanak Allah' here who is
ill. I beg your pardon for mentioning so vile a subject to your
excellency." Said the doctor, "and who may it be?" "Ajellak, it is my
wife!"
I remember once meeting the Mohammedan Mufti of Beirût in Dr. Van
Dyck's study at the printing press. The Mufti's wife, (at least one of
them,) was ill, and he wished medical advice, but could not insult the
Doctor by alluding to a woman in his presence. So he commenced,
after innumerable salutations, repeating good-morning, and may your
day be happy, until he could decently proceed to business. "Your
excellency must be aware that I have a sick man at my house. May God
grant you health! Indeed, peace to your head. Inshullah, it is only a
slight attack!" "He has pain in his back, headache, and he will not eat."
"Has he any fever?" "A little." "I will come and see her this afternoon."
"May God increase your good. Good morning, sir!"
The Mohammedan laws with regard to polygamy, inheritance and
divorce, are a decided advance on the Pagan Arabs of "the Ignorance."
The Pagan Arabs allowed any number of wives. The Koran allows only
four to any believer, the prophet himself having peculiar privileges in
this respect. The modern practice of Mohammedans in taking a score or
more of wives is directly contrary to the Koran. The Pagan Arabs
suffered no woman to have any part of the husband's or father's

inheritance, on the ground that none should inherit who could not go to
war, and the widows were disposed of as a part of their husband's
possessions. The Koran says, (Sura iv.) "Women ought to have a part
of what their parents leave." A male shall have twice as much as a
female. But a man's parents, and also his brothers and sisters are to
have equal shares, without reference to sex. "God commandeth you to
give the male the portion of two females. If she be an only daughter,
she shall have the half. Your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye
leave, if ye have no issue."
Among the Pagan Arabs, divorce was a mere matter of caprice. The
Koran says, (Sura ii.) "You may divorce your wives twice (and take
them back again). But if the husband divorce her a third time, it is not
lawful for him to take her again, until she shall have been actually
married to another husband, and then divorced by him." I have known
cases where the husband in a fit of passion has divorced his wife the
third time, and, in order to get her back again, has hired another man to
marry her and then divorce her. A rich Effendi had divorced his wife
the third time, and wishing to re-marry her, hired a poor man to marry
her for a consideration of seven hundred piastres. He took the wife and
the money, and the next day refused to give her up for less than five
thousand piastres, which the Effendi was obliged to pay, as the woman
had become the lawful and wedded wife of the poor man.
No Mohammedan ever walks with his wife in the street, and in Moslem
cities, very few if any of men of other sects are willing to be seen in
public in company with a woman. The women are