One of the most fatal blots upon the creed of Islām is the open countenance which it gives to polygamy. We have not here the case of a prophet placed in the midst of an ignorant and barbarous people, who confronted and modified institutions which he could not at once suppress, but we have Mohammed inculcating the doctrine of polygamy, by both precept and example. It is repeatedly taught in the Korān, and men are commanded to “Marry what seems good to you of women, by twos, or threes, or by fours.”[220] When his other wives objected to the introduction of the Coptic slave girl, Mary, into the harem of Mohammed, he claimed to receive a revelation from heaven justifying his conduct. He also divorced the woman who gave the information to the others, and banished them all (except the Coptic girl) from his presence for the space of a month. He enjoined his followers to treat their wives and slaves more kindly, but they could marry and divorce them at pleasure; the Korān, however, states that “If he divorce her a third time, he cannot marry her after that until she marry another husband:” if the new husband divorces her, however, the first may marry her again. They were also allowed to exchange wives, but it is said: “If ye wish to exchange one wife for another, and have given one of them a talent, then do not take from it anything.”[221] They required the most careful conduct and seclusion in their wives, and the penalty for adultery was imprisonment for life, but of their partners in guilt it was said, “if they turn again and amend, leave them alone.”[222] Again it is said, “Men stand superior to women.... But those wives whose perverseness ye fear, admonish them and remove them into a bedchamber and beat them; but if they submit to you, do not seek a way against them.”[223] The Mohammedans of Persia have by no means forgotten their early training, and they still fill their Anderoons with as many women as they can afford. Every Persian house is constructed on the plan of secrecy. No windows are visible from the street, but the interior is built around courts or gardens, with beautiful fountains and fragrant flowers; indeed, there may be groves of fruit trees which cannot be seen from the street. In the main portion of the house the lord of the mansion lives and transacts his business during the day, while the inmates of his Anderoon are kept in the most rigid seclusion, passing their time as best they may, in doing fine embroidery, and possibly acquiring some proficiency in music or painting. They cannot go out at all without a mantle or veil which covers them from head to foot; and when the wives of the Shah go upon the street they are not only followed by the royal guards, but the event is announced by a herald, the shops are closed and the streets must be deserted.