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196 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

Muhammad's mind, though he might have learnt it from the Jews, and must have seen the principle exemplified among many of the Israelites of Arabia. Such a principle1 is hostile to the genius of Islam. In Muhammadan lands even to the present time, wherever people endeavour to live in accordance with the laws of their "Prophet," each household is divided into two entirely different parts, the first consisting of the male members of the family, the second of the female. There is no common family life. The wife never eats with her husband, but either waits upon him at his meals, if the household is a poor one, or takes her food secluded in the haram, while her husband in his own part of the house is attended upon by his slaves, if he is rich enough to afford it. In the case of princes and rich men the haram is guarded by eunuchs. Each wife lives in a separate house and has an establishment of her own. In consequence of the expense attending this, polygamy is comparatively rare among Muslims in India and in some other countries; but divorce is of frequent occurrence. Concubinage is distinctly sanctioned by Islam, and prevails in purely Muhammadan lands to the


1 Any impartial reader of the Traditions and of the Qur'an will perceive this. The tone in which women are spoken of in Muhammadan works is most repulsive. E.g., owing probably to a tradition mentioned in the Mishkat (p. 261) in which the word عورة (=pudendum) is applied to woman, that Arabic word has been introduced into Urdu as the proper word for woman in general.
THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAM. 197

utmost extent possible. In Persia temporary1 marriages, for a month, a week, or for even shorter periods, are sanctioned by the religious authorities and performed before them; and, though forbidden 2 by the Sunnis, the same practice prevails very extensively at Mecca itself. It is quite impossible to depict the full horrors of which the Religion of Muhammad thus approves,—to tell of the divisions in families, the jealousy and hatred between half-brothers, between two legal wives of the same husband,—the slanders, the scandals to which this unnatural system gives rise. Nor does such a very "liberal" moral3 code prevent


1 Called مُتْعَةٌ in Arabic, صيغة in Persian.
2 Vide Mishkat, p. 264.
3 Utinam mihi ignoscas, lector benevole, dum documento demonstrem, quantum doctrina Christi ab Mohammedis de mulieribus disciplina distet. Quod ut luce clarius appareat, unum tantum ex evangelio sancto versum necesse est cum Arabum de Mohammede traditione conferam. In Matthaei Evangelii cap. v. versu 28, Christus,
Εγω δε, αιτ, λεγω υμιν, οτι πας ο βλεπων γυναικα προς το επιθυμησαι αυτης ηδη εμοιχευσεν αυτην εν τη καρδια αυτον . Auctores autem Moslemici (Mishkatu'l Masabih, pag. 261) affirmant prophetam suum dixisse: ايما رجل راى إمراةً تعجبه فليقم الى اهلهِ فانّ معها مِثل الّذى معها quod significat, Επειδαν δε βλεψη ανηρ γυναικα τινα, η αρεση αυτφ, πορευετω ουν προς γυναικα εαυτου, διοτι αληθως εστι μετ' αυτης ο, τι αν η μετ εκεινης. Cuius traditionis scriptor, qui et ipse Mohammedis assecla erat, loco iam citato narrat ipsum pseudoprophetam tempore quodam, muliere quadam pulcra conspecta, quum libidine accensus esset, hoc modo την επιθυμιαν satiasse, quam ob rem hanc tradidisse asseclis suis regulam observandam.

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