\ 45. THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 189
or two. But Califs may fill their harems to the extent of their wealth and lust. Concubinage with female slaves is allowed to all without limitation. The violation of captive women of the enemy is the legitimate reward of the conqueror. The laws of divorce and prohibited degrees are mostly borrowed from the Jews, but divorce is facilitated and practiced to an extent that utterly demoralizes married life.
Polygamy and servile concubinage destroy the dignity of wo man, and the beauty and peace of home. In all Mohammedan countries woman is ignorant and degraded ; she is concealed from public sight by a veil (a sign of degradation as well as protec tion); she is not commanded to pray, and is rarely seen in the mosques; it is even an open question whether she has a soul, but she is necessary even in paradise for the gratification of man's passion. A Moslem would feel insulted by an inquiry after the health of his wife or wives. Polygamy affords no protection against unnatural vices, which are said to prevail to a fearful extent among Mohammedans, as they did among the ancient heathen.1
In nothing is the infinite superiority of Christianity over Islam so manifest as in the condition of woman and family life. Woman owes everything to the religion of the gospel.
The sensual element pollutes even the Mohammedan picture of heaven from which chastity is excluded. The believers are promised the joys of a luxuriant paradise amid blooming gardens, fresh fountains, and beautiful virgins. Seventy-two Houris, or black-eyed girls of blooming youth will be created for the enjoy ment of the meanest believer; a moment of pleasure will be pro longed to a thousand years ; and his faculties will be increased a hundred fold. Saints and martyrs will be admitted to the spiritual joys of the divine vision. But infidels and those who refuse to fight for their faith will be cast into hell.
The Koran distinguishes seven heavens, and seven hells (for
1 Rom. i. 24 sqq. See the statements of Dr. Jessup of Beirut, /. c., p. 47.
190 FOURTH PEEIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
wicked or apostate Mohammedans, Christians, Jews, Sabians, Magians, idolaters, hypocrites). Hell (Jahennemr= Gehenna) is beneath the lowest earth and seas of darkness; the bridge over it is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword; the pious pass over it in a moment, the wicked fall from it into the abyss.
SLAVERY.
Slavery is recognized and sanctioned as a normal condition of society, and no hint is given in the Koran, nor any effort made by Mohammedan rulers for its final extinction. It is the twinsister of polygamy ; every harem is a slave-pen or a slave-palace. " The Koran, as a universal revelation, would have been a per petual edict of servitude." Mohammed, by ameliorating the condition of slaves, and enjoining kind treatment upon the mas ters, did not pave the way for its abolition, but rather riveted its fetters. The barbarous slave-trade is still carried on in all its horrors by Moslems among the negroes in Central Africa.
WAR.
War against unbelievers is legalized by the Koran. The fighting men are to be slain, the women and children reduced to slavery. Jews and Christians are dealt with more leniently than idolaters ; but they too must be thoroughly humbled and forced to pay tribute.
§ 46. Mohammedan Worship.
" A simple, unpartitioned room, Surmounted by an ample dome, Or, in some lands that favored lie, With centre open to the sky, But roofed with arched cloisters round, That mark the consecrated bound, And shade the niche to Mecca turned, By which two massive lights are burned ; With pulpit whence the §acred word
2 46. MOHAMMEDAN WORSHIP. 191
Expounded on great days is heard ;
With fountains fresh, where, ere they pray,
Men wash the soil of earth away ;
With shining minaret, thin and high,
From whose fine trellised balcony,
Announcement of the hour of prayer
Is uttered to the silent air :
Such is the Mosque — the holy place,
Where faithful men of every race
Meet at their ease and face to face."
(From MILNES, "Palm Leaves.")
In worship the prominent feature of Islam is its extreme iconoclasm and puritaiiism. In this respect, it resembles the ser vice of the synagogue. The second commandment is literally understood as a prohibition of all representations of living crea tures, whether in churches or elsewhere. The only ornament allowed is .the a Arabesque,'7 which is always taken from inani mate nature.1
The ceremonial is very simple. The mosques, like Catholic churches, are always open and frequented by worshippers, who perform their devotions either alone or in groups with covered head and bare feet. In entering, one must take off the shoes according to the command : " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Slippers or sandals of straw are usually provided for strangers, and must be paid for. There are always half a dozen claimants for "backsheesh" — the first and the last word which greets the tra veller in Egypt and Syria. Much importance is attached to preaching.2
Circumcision is retained from the Jews, although it is not mentioned in the Koran. Friday is substituted for the Jewish Sabbath as the sacred day (perhaps because it was previously a
1 The lions in the court of the Alhambra form an exception.
2 For an interesting description of a sermon from the pulpit of Mecca, see Burton's Pilgrimage, II. 314; III. 117, quoted by Stanley, p. 379. Burton Bays, he had never and nowhere seen so solemn, so impressive a religious spec tacle. Perhaps he has not heard many Christian sermons.