Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia: An Account of an Englishwoman's Eight Years' Residence Amongst the Women of the EastHume-Griffith, M. E.
Philosophy
Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia: An Account of an Englishwoman's Eight Years' Residence Amongst the Women of the East
Hume-Griffith, M. E.
Arabian Peninsula -- Social life and customs; Iran -- Social life and customs
When a woman is divorced the husband can claim the children if he
desires; if not, the wife is allowed to retain them. Should she marry
again the poor children are often left to look after themselves as best
they can. As a rule the new husband does not wish to bear the expense
of the children belonging to his wife's former husband. If, however,
he should consent, and the two families are brought up together, the
result is generally not conducive to peace of mind. One of our servants
in Mosul had a little boy five years of age; having divorced the boy's
mother, he looked about for another wife, and finally selected one
who had already been divorced and was the mother of a boy four years
old. The two boys now live together, and are a fruitful source of
friction between husband and wife. A short time ago the mother came
to our compound early in the morning looking dishevelled and angry,
saying that her husband had turned her out of the house at midnight,
refusing to admit her again. On inquiring into the matter we found
that the root of the quarrel lay in the fact that the man was jealous
of his wife's treatment of her own boy, declaring that he had only
married her to look after his boy. He divorced her; but acting on
our suggestion forgave, and reinstated her in his hareem.
A short time ago a woman came to me in great distress with her tale of
sorrow. I had known her for some months, and loved her very much. She
was the mother of two fine boys and a girl. When the girl was about
eighteen months old the mother became very ill. The doctor attended
her for some days, but finally gave up all hope of her recovery. As
a last resource, however, some stringent means were used which,
with God's blessing, proved successful, and the woman began to
recover. So near death had she been, that the neighbours came to the
house inquiring what time the funeral would take place! The husband, a
"mullah" (priest), never came near her the whole time of her illness,
and the first news the poor woman heard on her recovery was that he
intended taking another wife, doubtless thinking that, after such a
severe illness, she would not be of much use to him for some long time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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