GROWTH OF ISLAM
The division of the Arabian Empire into rival caliphates did not check the spread of Islam. The Turks and Mongols during the Middle Ages carried it to the uttermost regions of Asia and throughout southeastern Europe. Some parts of the territory thus gained by it have since been lost. Spain and the Balkan peninsula are once more Christian lands. In other parts of the world, and notably in Africa and India, the religion of Mohammed is spreading faster than any other creed. Islam to-day claims about two hundred million adherents.
[Illustration: THE FOUNTAIN OF THE LIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA The most remarkable feature of the Alhambra is the Court of the Lions. It measures 116 feet in length by 66 feet in breadth. A gallery supported on marble columns surrounds the court. In the center is the Fountain of Lions, an alabaster basin resting on the backs of 12 marble lions.]
THE BENEFITS OF ISLAM
The growth of Islam is evidence that it meets the needs of Asiatic and African peoples. Its simple creed—the unity of God, man's immortal soul, and material rewards and penalties in a future life—adapt it to the understanding of half-civilized peoples. As a religion it is immeasurably superior to the rude nature worship and idolatry which it has supplanted. The same is true of Islam as a system of morality. The practice of the virtues recommended by the Koran and the avoidance of the vices which that book condemns tend to raise its adherents in the moral scale.
TREATMENT OF WOMEN
From the moral standpoint one of the least satisfactory features of Islam is its attitude toward women. The ancient Arabs, like many other peoples, seem to have set no limit to the number of wives a man might possess. Women were regarded by them as mere chattels, and female infants were frequently put to death. Mohammed recognized polygamy, but limited the number of legitimate wives to four. At the same time Mohammed sought to improve the condition of women by forbidding female infanticide, by restricting the facilities for divorce, and by insisting on kind treatment of wives by their husbands. "The best of you," he said, "is he who behaves best to his wives." According to eastern custom Moslem women are secluded in a separate part of the house, called the harem. [32] They never appear in public, except when closely veiled from the eyes of strangers. Their education is also much neglected.
SLAVERY
Slavery, like polygamy, was a custom which Mohammed found fully established among the Arabs. He disliked slavery and tried in several ways to lessen its evils. He declared that the emancipation of Moslem slaves was an act of special merit, and ordered that in a war between Moslems the prisoners were not to be enslaved. Mohammed also insisted on kind treatment of slaves by their masters. "Feed your slaves," he directed, "with food of that which you eat and clothe them with such clothing as you wear, and command them not to do that which they are unable to do." The condition of Moslem slaves does not appear to be intolerable, though the slave traffic which still exists in some parts of Africa is a disgrace to Islam.