Our Moslem Sisters: A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness Interpreted by Those Who Heard It
Religion
Our Moslem Sisters: A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness Interpreted by Those Who Heard It
Women -- Orient
Among the poorer classes divorce is extremely prevalent. If a woman has
no child, she is immediately divorced, and is returned to her own
family, who arrange for a second marriage, generally in about ten days
from the time she is divorced. Should she again have no child, her lot
will indeed be a sad one. She must then be content to be the wife of
some blind or crippled man, who, perhaps, will also exact a sum of money
from her relations for his charity in marrying her. If a woman be
divorced after she has had children, she must leave them with the
husband, to be probably harshly treated by her successor or successors.
If the father dies, the children are supported by his brothers or
relations, while the widow marries again. It is seldom that a widow is
permitted to take a child, or children, to her new home. There is no
difficulty in providing for orphan girls; they are much sought after in
marriage, for the law excuses a young man from foreign military service
if he can prove that his wife is an orphan. This means that he would not
be able to leave her alone during his absence. Such orphans are
generally taken into the houses of their future husbands as little tiny
girls of four or five years old, where they are trained by the
mother-in-law, and grow up as daughters. By this means the husband is
exempt from paying any sum of money for his bride.
We must not forget that the marriages of Moslems are wholly without
affection, and that the only way in which the husband can enforce
obedience from his ignorant and listless wife is by the law of divorce.
She will obey him and work for him simply from the fear of being turned
away. When a woman has been divorced four or five times, she finds a
difficulty in getting a husband; for the report spreads that it "takes
two to make a quarrel," that her tongue is too sharp and her temper too
short. I have been asked what becomes eventually of the woman who has
been frequently divorced. Finally she remains with the old or very poor
man who has married her in her old age. Or, possibly, if she is a widow
with a grown-up son, he will support her until death relieves him of
what he feels to be only a burden. The insecurity of a Moslem wife's
position quite precludes any improvement in herself, her household
arrangements, or in her children's training. She does not care to sew,
or to take an interest in her husband's work. She does not economize, or
try to improve his position, for fear that, if he should find himself
with a little spare money, he would immediately enlarge his borders by
taking another wife! Therefore, a Moslem woman's house is always
poor-looking and untidy. She keeps her husband's clothes the same, that
he may not be able to associate with wealthy men and envy their
pleasures. Here we see the wide gulf between Christianity and Islam. The
wife, whom God gave to be the "help," and whose price is far above
rubies, has been debased by the prophet Mohammed, into the "chattel" to
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