WOMAN AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS.
While thus the followers of Christ reformed the position of woman in the Roman empire, Mohammed, the founder of Islam or Mohammedanism, at the same time endeavored to better the condition of woman in the Orient. Born about the year 570 A. D. in Arabia he recognized, that the domestic life of the Arabs was marked by many embarrassing improprieties. Polygamy was customary everywhere, and while among the rich people the wife was nothing but a toy, for no other purpose but to satisfy passion, among the poorer classes she was merely a suppressed slave, who could be sent away, when she was no longer young, or had lost her good looks, or had become unable to work. Concubinage and prostitution prevailed among the population of the cities as well as among the Bedouins, who led the same nomadic life as had the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob several thousand years ago.
To improve the position of woman, Mohammed inserted in the Koran, his great moral codex, a number of instructions, which shine forth like gold threads in the fabric of a beautiful curtain. He ordered the men to treat their wives with forbearance and respect, as was becoming in the stronger toward the weaker sex. Children were impressed to give love and comfort to their parents to the end of their days and show them the highest reverence.
To diminish polygamy and to give women a secure legal standing, Mohammed also reduced the number of lawful wives to four, and allowed this number to such men only as were wealthy enough to provide for certain comforts. Furthermore, he placed the men under the obligation, to be faithful to their wives and treat all with equal kindness.
VEILED.
To protect women from the many temptations of too close a social intercourse with men, Mohammed took pains to exclude women as much as possible from contact with the outer world. Therefore he insisted on the strict observance of the ancient Oriental custom that women must not appear in the streets or in presence of other men than their husbands except with their faces heavily veiled. This order has been observed in all Mohammedan countries up to the present day. Only slaves and peasant women are allowed to go unveiled, as the veil would hinder them at work. Therefore, outsiders can study the features of Mohammedan women only from members of the lower classes. To find out who is who among the veiled females seen in the streets of oriental cities is impossible even for their own husbands.
About the domestic life of Mohammedan women during former centuries we know practically nothing, as reliable reports by disinterested observers are wanting. But the fact that Mohammedan homes and family life were always secluded from the external world and inaccessible to Christian explorers travelling through oriental countries, rendered the subject peculiarly liable to highly exaggerated and sensational reports. Especially the life in the “Harem,” the women’s quarter, has been pictured innumerable times as a combination of boundless luxuriance, lascivity, frivolity, laziness and intrigues. In contradiction several ladies, who had a chance to study Mohammedan life during the last century, have asserted, that these reports do not, by any means, correspond with the truth. There is for instance an essay of Else Marquardsen about the manners of the Turks, in which she discusses polygamy. She says: “Throughout the course of many years I was allowed to visit the homes of many prominent people as well as of the poorer classes, but I remember only one case, where a man, a high official, had more than one wife. As a rule I found in all families a spirit of quiet faithfulness to duty, such as it is not always the case among us. The women, often compelled to live together with the mother or other female relatives of their husbands, maintain a good-natured kindness toward each other, which is really solacing and knows no exception. The great devotion, shown to the mother by her son as well as by his wife, and which makes her the most respected member of the whole family, is an education in humility and self-control, the results of which fill one with admiration. As the life of the Mohammedan woman, of which her husband forms the center, is one of repose and seclusion, so she retains a child-like disposition of sentiment which is indeed touching. Unlike as it is with us, she is reared in full knowledge of the natural destination of woman. As soon as she has developed from childhood to womanhood, she is offered to a man, unknown to her, but whom she respects as the god-sent medium to impart the sacred mystery by which she may become a mother. As he gives her the crown of life, she honors him as her lord. But if it should be her fate to remain barren, then she does as Sarah, Leah and Rachel did several thousand years ago; she goes to find another woman, by whom her husband may have children.”
The marriageable age for Mohammedan girls is about twelve, sometimes less and sometimes more, and the preliminaries are entirely a business matter conducted by the nearest relatives with much ceremony. After a definite contract is made it is then that the bride is permitted to see and speak to her future husband.
A MOHAMMEDAN WOMAN OF MOROCCO.
According to an article by Broughton Brandenburg about the district of Biskra, the night before the wedding the bride’s hands and feet are steeped in henna, with which are stained the nails of all women who make any pretense of keeping up appearances. When the day comes on which the bride is to go to the house of her husband she is arrayed in rich robes; on her arms and ankles are bracelets, and about her slender waist she wears a corded girdle holding in place a broad plate of gold, silver and turquoise, usually an heirloom of great age and rare workmanship. The spangled bridal veil is cast over her head and she is led to the door by her parents and given over to a company of joyous friends, hired musicians and guests who parade through the streets beating the rawhide tambourines and cymbals, dancing and shouting. So the tumultuous pageant winds its way to the house of the groom, where the happy child takes off the girdle and plate, and hands them to her husband with a deep obeisance. After that, feasting and merry-making follow, and last as long as the bridegroom keeps his purse open.—
But the great restrictions to which, for her own protection, the Mohammedan woman was subjected by the Koran, also caused some great disadvantages. Neither Mohammed nor his successors had a proper appreciation of the dignity, the many possibilities and the real mission of woman. Regarding her chiefly as the medium for the propagation of the race, they neglected her intellectual life. In consequence she never had, in her strict seclusion, a chance to develop her mental qualities. Unable to read books and hearing nothing of the events of the outer world, she remained in the state of semi-slavery, never attaining the high position reached by many Christian women of to-day, namely that of being a real consort to the husband.
So the very best influence of woman was wanting. And as in time polygamy and concubinage increased again among many Mohammedan nations, the men became enervated and unable to resist hostile assaults.
The most striking example is that of the Moors. After having conquered large parts of Northern Africa as well as of Spain, they were expelled again from Europe during the 15th Century. The charming Alhambra at Granada, the Alcazars of Seville and Toledo, the magnificent mosque at Cordova still preach the past glory of their former empire. But while we wander through the elaborate rooms, that once were occupied by the women of the califs and sultans, we cannot resist the conviction that these splendid halls were but golden cages for beautiful creatures, whose wings had been clipped.
