OUR MOSLEM SISTERS
[Illustration: A MOTHER AND HER DAUGHTER FROM TUNIS]
Our Moslem Sisters
_A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness
Interpreted by Those Who Heard It_
EDITED BY
ANNIE VAN SOMMER
AND
SAMUEL M. ZWEMER
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
Copyright, 1907, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
INTRODUCTION
This book with its sad, reiterated story of wrong and oppression is an
indictment and an appeal. It is an indictment of the system which
produces results so pitiful. It is an appeal to Christian womanhood to
right these wrongs and enlighten this darkness by sacrifice and service.
At the recent Mohammedan Educational Conference in Bombay the president
of the gathering, the Agha Khan, himself a leading Moslem, spoke very
trenchantly of the chief barriers to progress in the Moslem world. The
first and greatest of these barriers in his opinion was "the seclusion
of women which results in keeping half the community in ignorance and
degradation and this hinders the progress of the whole." Surely the
ignorance and degradation of one-half of a community which has a world
population of 233 millions is a question that concerns all who love
humanity.
The origin of the veil of Islam was, as is well known, one of the
marriage affairs of Mohammed himself, with its appropriate revelation
from Allah. In the twenty-fourth Surah of the Koran women are forbidden
to appear unveiled before any member of the other sex, with the
exception of near relatives. And so by one verse the bright, refining,
elevating influence of women was forever withdrawn from Moslem society.
The evils of the zenana, the seraglio, the harem, or by whatever name it
is called, are writ large over all the social life of the Moslem world.
Keene says it "lies at the root of all the most important features that
differentiate progress from stagnation."
In Arabia before the advent of Islam it was customary to bury female
infants alive. Mohammed improved on the barbaric method and discovered a
way by which _all_ females could be buried alive and yet live
on--namely, the veil. How they live on, this book tells! Its chapters
are not cunningly devised fables nor stories told for the story's sake.
Men and women who have given of their strength and service, their love
and their life to ameliorate the lives of Moslem women and carry the
torch of Truth into these lands of darkness write simply the truth in a
straightforward way. All the chapters were written by missionaries in
the various lands represented. And with three exceptions the writers
were women. The chapter on Turkestan is by a converted Moslem; and the
two chapters on the Yemen and the Central Soudan are by medical
missionaries. The book has as many authors as there are chapters. For
obvious reasons their names are not published, but their testimony is
unimpeachable and unanimous. We read what their eyes have seen, what
their hands have handled, and what has stirred their hearts. It has
stirred the hearts of educated Moslems too, in Egypt as well as in
India. A new book on this very subject was recently published at Cairo
by Kasim Ameen, a learned Moslem jurist. Although he denies that Islam
is the cause, yet speaking of the present relation of the Mohammedan
woman to man the author says:
"Man is the absolute master and woman the slave. She is the object of
his sensual pleasures, a toy, as it were, with which he plays, whenever
and however he pleases. Knowledge is his, ignorance is hers. The
firmament and the light are his, darkness and the dungeon are hers. His
is to command, hers is to blindly obey. His is everything that is, and
she is an insignificant part of that everything.
"Ask those that are married if they are loved by their wives, and they
will answer in the affirmative. The truth, however, is the reverse. I
have personally investigated the conditions of a number of families that
are supposed to be living in harmony, peace, and love, and I have not
found one husband who truly loved his wife, or one wife who evinced a
sincere affection for her husband. This outward appearance of peace and
harmony--this thin veneering--only means one of three things, namely,
either the husband is made callous and nonchalant by incessant strife,
and has finally determined to let things take their course; or the wife
allows herself to be utilized as an ordinary chattel, without uttering a
protest; or both parties are ignorant and do not appreciate the true
value of life. In this last case, the parties are nearer to a sort of
happiness than in the former two, although their happiness is negative
in quantity and evanescent in nature." ... The writers of the following
chapters believe that the only remedy for these social evils is the
Gospel. That is why they write.
The occasion that led to the preparation and collection of this series
of papers was the Cairo Conference. One of the most interesting sessions
of that first general Conference on behalf of the Mohammedan world, held
at Cairo April 4-9, 1906, was that on Woman's Work for Women. But the
time was far too short nor had there been preparation for a full and
free presentation and discussion of the condition and needs of our
Moslem sisters. Those that loved them felt this and yet the women
present seized the opportunity and unitedly sent forth the following
appeal, endorsed by the whole Conference:
"_Women's Appeal._
"We, the women missionaries, assembled at the Cairo Conference,
would send this appeal on behalf of the women of Moslem lands
to all the women's missionary boards and committees of Great
Britain, America, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Australia, and New Zealand.
"While we have heard with deep thankfulness of many signs of
God's blessing on the efforts already put forth, yet we have
been appalled at the reports which have been sent in to the
Conference from all parts of the Moslem world, showing us only
too plainly that as yet but a fringe of this great work has
been touched.
"The same story has come from India, Persia, Arabia, Africa,
and other Mohammedan lands, making evident that the condition
of women under Islam is everywhere the same--and that there is
no hope of effectually remedying the spiritual, moral, and
physical ills which they suffer, except to take them the
message of the Saviour, and that there is no chance of their
hearing, unless we give ourselves to the work. _No one else
will do it._ This lays a heavy responsibility on all Christian
women.
"The number of Moslem _women_ is so vast--not less than one
hundred million--that any adequate effort to meet the need must
be on a scale far wider than has ever yet been attempted.
"We do not suggest new organizations, but that every church and
board of missions at present working in Moslem lands should
take up their own women's branch of work with an altogether new
ideal before them, determining to reach the whole world of
Moslem women in this generation. Each part of the women's work
being already carried on needs to be widely extended. Trained
and consecrated women doctors; trained and consecrated women
teachers; groups of women workers in the villages; an army of
those with love in their hearts to seek and save the lost. And,
with the willingness to take up this burden, so long neglected,
for the salvation of Mohammedan women, even though it may prove
a very cross of Calvary to some of us, we shall hear our
Master's voice afresh ringing words of encouragement: 'Have
faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall
say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into
the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that these things which He saith shall come to pass, he shall
have whatsoever he saith.' 'Nothing shall be impossible unto
you.'"
That this wonderful appeal might reach a wider circle and that its
skeleton form might be clothed with the flesh and blood of real life
experiences and so be not a resolution but a revelation,--this book was
written. _May God give its message wings through His Spirit_
S. M. ZWEMER.
HOLLAND, MICH.,
February, 1907.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HAGAR AND HER SISTERS 15
II. EGYPT, THE LAND OF BONDAGE 24
III. FROM UNDER THE YOKE OF SOCIAL EVILS 38
IV. THE WOMEN OF EGYPT ONCE MORE 60
V. BEHIND THE OPENING DOOR IN TUNIS 72
VI. "NOT DEAD, ONLY DRY" 89
VII. LIGHT IN DARKEST MOROCCO 99
VIII. MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN THE CENTRAL SOUDAN 118
IX. A STORY FROM EAST AFRICA 131
X. OUR ARABIAN SISTERS 135
XI. WOMEN'S LIFE IN THE YEMEN 146
XII. PEN-AND-INK SKETCHES IN PALESTINE 152
XIII. ONCE MORE IN PALESTINE 164
XIV. MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN SYRIA 174
XV. BEHIND THE LATTICE IN TURKEY 192
XVI. A VOICE FROM BULGARIA 204
XVII. DARKNESS AND DAYBREAK IN PERSIA 207
XVIII. DARKNESS AND DAYBREAK IN PERSIA (PART II) 228
XIX. THE CONDITION OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN BALUCHISTAN 249
XX. IN SOUTHERN INDIA 253
XXI. THE MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN OF TURKESTAN 263
XXII. IN FAR-OFF CATHAY 276
XXIII. OUR MOSLEM SISTERS IN JAVA 283
XXIV. THE MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN OF MALAYSIA 287
XXV. "WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?" 293
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
_Facing page_
A MOTHER AND HER DAUGHTER FROM TUNIS TITLE
DAUGHTERS OF EGYPT 24
BARGAINS IN ORANGES 60
BY THE BANKS OF THE NILE 60
DOROTHY AND FATIMAH 78
ARAB WOMAN ENTERING SAINT'S TOMB 82
TYPES IN TUNIS AND ALGIERS 90
A YOUNG GIRL OF THE ABU SAAD TRIBE 96
A BEDOUIN GIRL FROM NORTH AFRICA 102
GOING TO MARKET--TWO BURDEN BEARERS 126
WOMEN CHURNING BUTTER IN BEDOUIN CAMP (Arabia) 136
MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN CEMETERY, ETC. 160
A VILLAGE SCHOOL IN SYRIA--MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN, ETC. 170
A FAMILY GROUP AT JERICHO 176
MAT-MAKERS (Persia): INDOOR DRESS (Northern Persia) 228
MOSLEM WOMEN OF THE BETTER CLASS IN STREET DRESS (Syria) 264
A CRY OF DISTRESS FROM ALGIERS 294
"All that took them captives hold them fast, they refuse to let
them go. Their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of Hosts is His
name; He shall thoroughly plead their cause."--JEREMIAH l. 33,
34.
"Deliver them that are carried away unto death, and those that
are tottering to the slaughter see that thou hold back. If thou
sayest, Behold we knew not this, doth not He that weigheth the
hearts consider it and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He
know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his
works?"--PROVERBS xxiv. 11, 12. (R. V.)
"Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are
left desolate. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister
judgment to the poor and needy."--PROVERBS xxxi. 8, 9. (R. V.)
OUR MOSLEM SISTERS
I
HAGAR AND HER SISTERS
"We must concentrate attention upon the mothers, for what the mothers
are, the children will be." These words, spoken recently by a British
statesman, are but the thoughts of many who have tried to save the
children. And in looking at the millions of Moslems in the world to-day,
and wondering why they are still as they were a thousand years ago,
rather drifting backward than advancing, we turn to their women and find
the cause. Mohammedan law, custom, and the example of their founder
place woman on a level with beasts of burden and no nation rises above
the level of its women.
The Lord Jesus is the only prophet come to this world who has raised
women to what God meant them to be. It is only He who can save our
Moslem sisters. When Hagar returns to Christ Ishmael shall live.
The story of Hagar, the mother of the Arabs, tells us of a young girl
sacrificed for the scheme and then the jealousy of an older woman who
should have loved and pitied her. And it seems to some of us that it
needs the widespread love and pity of the women of our day in Christian
lands to seek and save the suffering sinful needy women of Islam.
You cannot know how great the need unless you are told; you will never
go and find them until you hear their cry. And they will never cry for
themselves, for they are down under the yoke of centuries of oppression,
and their hearts have no hope or knowledge of anything better.
And so to-day, we want to make our voices heard for them. We want to
tell you, our sisters at home, in words so plain that you can never
again say: "Behold, we knew it not."
"In the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established," was the
law of Moses. In this book you have the evidence of more than a score of
witnesses and they all speak the same things. Each one tells only that
which she knows. No incident is given without personal knowledge, and
most of the writers have the experience of ten, fifteen, or twenty years
in the midst of the people of whom they tell.
Although we claim no literary merit, we have a thrilling story and plead
for a hearing.
Read for yourselves what is going on in the lives of a hundred million
women in the world to-day and take this burden on your hearts before
God.
A long tress of dark hair, a white veil, a bit of flower, and a shining
necklace. They are there above the bier of a young bride carried past
our window to her grave. There was another one yesterday, and there will
be more to-morrow. Hundreds of child-wives and sixty-two per cent. they
tell us of all the babies born here, in Egypt, are taken to an early
grave. We cannot know these things and not call upon you, our sisters,
to come and try to save them. They are passing away in an endless
procession, without ever having heard of Jesus, without ever knowing
that He died for them, that an eternity of gladness and love may be
theirs.
Although the voices in this book sound from many lands: Egypt, Tunis,
Algiers, Morocco, Hausa Land, East Africa, Arabia, Palestine, Syria,
Turkey, Bulgaria, Persia, India, one story is told and one cry heard
everywhere. There has been no communication between the writers, but
there is absolute identity of evidence because all the Moslems of these
lands are under Mohammedan law.
The world-wide suffering of Moslem women makes us read with wonder such
words as were recently spoken by the secretary of the Pan-Islamic
Society: "The Renaissance of Islam means the renaissance of humanity."
Does the speaker think we are all blind, and deaf, and ignorant? These
pages may enlighten him. We read further Mustapha Pasha Kamel's own
words and tell him that in these he speaks the truth. They were spoken
to his own fellow-Moslems.
Mustapha Pasha Kamel said in the course of his speech to his
co-religionists:
"Conquer with the force of knowledge and history the strong fortresses
of prejudice and bigotry, and open wide the gates of your heart for the
reception of Truth and Light. For a conquered people there is no cure
better than a passionate devotion to Truth. Be ye, therefore, messengers
of Light and Truth, the missionaries of brilliant and triumphant Truth,
the army of physicians prescribing the bitter pills of Truth. Tell the
effete and feeble rulers and princes, 'Awake from your deep slumber.
Recover soon from your drunkenness caused by the possession of absolute
authority, the boast of heraldry, and the braveries of pomp and
pageantry. Awake ye, before the depth of degradation into which your
subjects have fallen sound the death-knell of your rule and shake the
very foundations of your throne. Awake before the day overtakes you when
repentance and regrets will be of no avail.' Tell the rich who waste so
much of their wealth in the pursuit of ignoble pleasures, and who do not
spare a farthing for a noble cause, 'Awake before it is too late. Do not
forget in the midnight of your intoxication that a bitter day of
reckoning awaits you. Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen. Your fates
are bound up with those of your people and your glory depends upon their
prosperity. If they rise, you rise. If they fall, you fall with them.
Wealth is a poison if it becomes an instrument of evil; a life-giving
antidote when devoted to a noble purpose. Regard it therefore as a
divine gift and a sacred trust.' Tell the people who live the life of
animals and are led like dumb cattle: 'Awake, and realize the true
significance of life. Fill the earth and adorn it with the result of
your labors.' Gentlemen, you alone can make them understand the full
meaning of life. O physicians! the patient is in a critical state, and
delay spells death." ...
If the thinking men of the Mohammedan world really believe what is here
said to them by their own champion, we ask them will they not seek unto
God for a remedy? And it may be He will turn their thoughts to their own
homes, and let them see _what is, why it is, and to think what might
be_.
The homes of the sons of Ishmael might be happy and united, the abode of
gladness and family love, but they are the opposite of this. Few
Mohammedans know that such a home is possible. They only know a place
full of jealousy, of quarrelling and evil talk. What wonder that they
have the proverb: "The threshold of the house weeps for forty days when
a girl is born."
Unwelcome at birth, unloved in her life-time, without hope in her death;
and she might be the joy of your heart, the life of your home, and the
hope of your old age. Will you not ask yourselves, our brothers, can
these things be? "Have we wandered in the dark for centuries, misled by
blind leaders of the blind, and missing the good things offered us by
the God of Ishmael?" It was through Hagar his mother that Ishmael lived.
"_She sat over against him, and lift up her voice and wept. And God
heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of
heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not, for God
hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and
hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God
opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled
the bottles with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the
lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness._"
To-day we cry to our Father in Heaven to let us be the messengers of
comfort to Hagar--and we will ask Him to open her eyes that she may see
the Well of the Water of Life, and that she may hold it to the lips of
her sons and daughters in the Moslem world. The following touching
incident and poem by one who has labored long among Moslem women in
Persia may well be our opening prayer ere we hear the cry of need from
distant lands in these chapters:--
"It was the Communion Day in our Church, and the service proceeded as
usual. My thoughts were all of my own unworthiness and Christ's love to
me, until Mr. E. asked the question nobody ever notices, 'Has any one
been omitted in the distribution of the bread?' And it seemed to me I
could see millions on millions of women rising silently in India,
Africa, Siam, Persia, in all the countries where they need the Lord, but
know Him not, to testify that they had been omitted in the distribution
of the bread and cup! And they can take it from no hands but ours, and
we do not pass it on. Can Jesus make heaven so sweet and calm that we
can forgive ourselves this great neglect of the millions living now, for
whom the body was broken and the blood shed, just as much as for us?"
The feast was spread, the solemn words were spoken;
Humbly my soul drew near to meet her Lord,
To plead His sacrificial body broken,
His blood for me outpoured.
Confessing all my manifold transgression,
Weeping, to cast myself before His throne,
Praying His Spirit to take full possession,
And seal me all His own.
On Him I laid each burden I was bearing,
The anxious mind, of strength so oft bereft,
The future dim, the children of my caring,
All on His heart I left.
"How could I live, my Lord," I cried, "without Thee!
How for a single day this pathway trace,
And feel no loving arm thrown round about me,
No all-sustaining grace?
"Oh show me how to thank Thee, praise Thee, love Thee,
For these rich gifts bestowed on sinful me,
The rainbow hope that spans the sky above me,
The promised rest with Thee."
As if indeed He spoke the answer, fitted
Into my prayer, the pastor's voice came up:
"Let any rise if they have been omitted
When passed the bread and cup."
Sudden, before my inward, open vision,
Millions of faces crowded up to view,
Sad eyes that said, "For us is no provision;
Give us your Saviour, too!"
Sorrowful women's faces, hungry, yearning,
Wild with despair, or dark with sin and dread,
Worn with long weeping for the unreturning,
Hopeless, uncomforted.
"Give us," they cry; "your cup of consolation
Never to our outstretching hands is passed,
We long for the Desire of every nation,
And oh, we die so fast!
"Does He not love us, too, this gracious Master?
'Tis from your hand alone we can receive
The bounty of His grace; oh, send it faster,
That we may take and live!"
"Master," I said, as from a dream awaking,
"Is this the service Thou dost show to me?
Dost Thou to me entrust Thy bread for breaking
To those who cry for Thee?
"Dear Heart of Love, canst Thou forgive the blindness
That let Thy child sit selfish and at ease
By the full table of Thy loving kindness,
And take no thought for these?
"As Thou hast loved me, let me love; returning
To these dark souls the grace Thou givest me;
And oh, to me impart Thy deathless yearning
To draw the lost to Thee!
"Nor let me cease to spread Thy glad salvation,
Till Thou shalt call me to partake above,
Where the redeemed of every tribe and nation
Sit at Thy feast of love!"
--ANNIE VAN SOMMER,
Alexandria, Egypt.
[Illustration: DAUGHTERS OF EGYPT]
II
EGYPT, THE LAND OF BONDAGE
Egypt was the home of the earliest civilization in the world, which
archæology traces back beyond 3000 years B. C. The home of a race
skilled both in the fine and mechanical arts; loving nature, honoring
women, and deeply impressed with the seriousness of life on both sides
the grave. The valley of the Nile, which is the true Egypt, is unlike
any other part of the world. It has neither Alpine grandeur, nor
pastoral softness, nor variety of plain and upland, meadow and forest.
Its low hills have neither heather nor pine upon them. Egypt is the land
of light, of glowing sunshine, of moonlight and starlight so brilliant
that night is but a softer day. From the time that Israel's ancestors
went down thither it has drawn men of every clime with a peculiar
fascination.
On the opposite page we have before us a glimpse of the majestic Nile,
stretching through one thousand miles of desert till it flows into the
Mediterranean Sea. "Wherever the river cometh, there is life."
Everywhere along its banks the desert has become fertile, and there are
countless towns and villages.
The productive capacity of the land had always depended upon the annual
overflow of the Nile, but every summer during the season of high Nile
billions and billions of cubic feet of water would roll away a rich and
wanton waste into the sea, simply because there were not enough channels
to carry it out into the thirsty sands of the desert. Energetic men
conceived the idea of bringing these waste waters into control, to carry
them out through the surrounding countries, bringing life and prosperity
where there was dearth and desolation. For this purpose several great
dams were built; one at Cairo, one at Assiut and one at Assouan, making
it possible to store up much of the water which had formerly gone to
waste, and canals were dug to carry the life-giving water out to the
desert where thousands of acres of land have been reclaimed.
The large cities of Egypt are densely populated. A town of twenty-five
thousand people is considered a mere village. It might be wondered what
the people do for a livelihood, but they all seem to do something. There
are all sorts of tradesmen and artificers. It is next to impossible to
enumerate them, there's the:--
Richman, poorman, beggarman, thief;
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief;
Butcher, baker,
Candle-stick maker,
Soldier, sailor,
Tinker, tailor, etc., etc.
There are few signs of extreme want, but disease and deformity meet one
everywhere, and blindness is perhaps the most pitiful.
Egypt is largely an agricultural country, and naturally the largest
percentage of her inhabitants are tillers of the soil. A little more
than half belong to the peasant class and are known as "fellaheen." They
are industrious after their own fashion, conservative to the point of
bigotry, yet good-humored and peaceable. The peasant class are the hope
of Egypt. They look back to a past full of crushing tyranny, political
and religious, but under the improved political condition of the country
the Egyptian peasant is beginning to widen his horizon and to aim for
education and civilization. Poor they certainly are, but what of that
when they have enough to eat such as it is and can spend their whole
lives in sunshine and fresh air? Warm enough with the lightest clothing,
well sheltered by the rudest cabin, no hard winters to provide against,
and no coal to buy.
Such is the physical condition of Egypt and the Egyptian. What of the
moral and spiritual?
Nine-tenths of the people are Mohammedans, thus Mohammedan ideas rule
the thought and manner of life.
Because Mohammedans worship one God, many people say, "Let them alone,
their religion is good enough for them, it is even better suited to them
than Christianity." It is true that Mohammedanism was a revolt against
the idolatry and corruption of the early Christian churches, but is that
revolt, even though an honest effort to find a purer form of worship,
any excuse for not holding out to them the true way of salvation? Is not
that revolt rather a trumpet call to Christianity, wakening her up to
her great responsibility toward the unbelief of Islam, whose apostasy
was caused by the unfaithfulness of the old Christian churches of the
East?
No one who has drunk deeply at the fountain of evangelical truth can
defend Islam. It has been commonly supposed that the God of the Koran is
the God of the New Testament. Those who have made the subject a matter
of careful study and investigation find that they are totally different.
The God of Christianity is a God of love, the God of Islam is an
Oriental despot.
The element of love is left out of both the religion and morality of
Islam. Marriage is not founded upon love but upon sensuality. A mother
was rebuked for arranging a marriage for her fourteen-year-old son. Her
excuse was, "I do it to keep him from learning the bad habit of visiting
prostitutes." The sensual nature has been trained in the Egyptian to an
indescribable degree of disgusting perfection. As some one has said,
"Mohammedans have added a refinement of sensuousness to pagan
sensuality." As a result of this training men and women have sunk to
depths of degradation unconsciously manifested in their customs, in
their speech, and in their life.
For twelve centuries the blight of Islam has fallen over the fortunes of
Egypt. Politics, commerce, learning, all have felt its withering blast,
but that which has most keenly felt the blast and blight of Islam is
society. There is no word in the Arabic language for home, the nearest
approach to it being "beit," which means "house" or "a place in which to
spend the night." To quote from an interesting writer on this
thought--"The word is lacking because the idea is lacking." "Home, sweet
Home" with all its wealth of meaning is a conception foreign to the
average Oriental. An educated young Moslem with advanced ideas in many
respects was asked if the members of his family took their meals
together. He said they did not, each one when he became hungry told the
servant to bring food. "Would it not be better to eat together?" "Yes,
it would be much cheaper," he replied, showing that the first ray of the
beauty of the home circle had not penetrated his active mind. How can it
be otherwise when woman, the heart and life of the family circle, was in
his mind because of inherited ideas relegated to the position of
prisoner and slave rather than to that of companion and helpmeet? "It
was Islam that forever withdrew from Oriental society the bright,
refining, elevating influence of woman by burying her alive behind the
veil and lattice of the Harem."
Arabic poetry and literature is generally very uncomplimentary to woman,
characterizing her as a donkey, or even a snake. The majority of the men
hoot at the gallantry and courtesy which Anglo-Saxon etiquette demands
of men towards women. Says an Egyptian, "Our women must be beaten in
order to be made to walk straight." And beaten they are for trifling
offence by father, husband, brother, or son as occasion demands. This
custom is so common that the women themselves expect a whipping
occasionally.
It has been said that the theology of Islam does not give woman a place
in heaven, but that statement is incorrect. However, her place and
station in heaven seem to depend entirely upon the will of her husband.
Many husbands are like the old Moslem sheikh who said, "I don't want my
wives in heaven. I prefer the Harem of beautiful, pure, clean angels
which God has provided for every good Moslem." The privilege of prayer
is practically denied a young woman with children because of the strict
regulations of washing before prayer. Unless these ablutions are done
carefully according to rule, prayer is void. A few old women do pray.
The nominal Christians dwelling in the midst of Islam, though they hate
Islam with all their hearts, have yet imbibed much of their spirit in
regard to the treatment of women. A Coptic priest was heard to say, "It
is better for the women not to go to church, for they can't keep quiet.
They will eat and chatter during the service." Poor things! What else
could they do, shut off from the main audience room as they always are
behind a high lattice screen, where they can neither see nor hear what
is going on!
Much can be said about the down-trodden condition of Egyptian women. "As
a babe she is unwelcome; as a child untaught; as a wife unloved; as a
mother, unhonored; in old age, uncared for; and when her miserable,
dark, and dreary life is ended, she is unmourned by those she has
served." Heaven is a forlorn hope, not because she is denied any of its
privileges, but because of the incapability of providing her with
enjoyments similar to those promised to the other sex.
It has often been asserted that the institutions of Islam elevated and
improved the state of women, but history and true incidents from life go
to show that her position was rendered by Islam more dependent and
degraded than before.
She is degraded and made servilely dependent by seclusion. The veil and
lattice of the Harem are both Islamic institutions established by the
Prophet of Islam and founded upon incidents which occurred in his own
family; and they are certainly a faithful commentary upon the sensuality
and lewdness of the times, with an unconscious recognition of the fact
that the religion of Islam was not of sufficient moral force to improve
the times. History has verified this testimony and we only need to look
around in these countries to see for ourselves that Mohammedanism, as
its founder anticipated, has not improved the morality of those who have
embraced its principles, but has rather excused and given license to all
sorts of lewdness. It is difficult for people reared in Christian lands
to have any conception of the laxity of morals in Mohammedan lands and
it is a thing to be wondered at and excused only on the grounds of
ignorance of existing conditions that English parents will allow their
young daughters to become resident teachers or governesses in rich
Mohammedan houses.
The whole system of Islam, in so far as it concerns family life and the
treatment of women, is vile and revolting. The veil and lattice of the
Harem, even though established to guard her modesty and purity, have
degraded and debased her by making her a prisoner.
As a child, she has before her only a few short years in which she has
an opportunity to go to school and the effort to improve those few years
is very often fruitless, because just as she shows any signs of budding
womanhood (as early as at the age of ten years and not later than
thirteen years) she must lay aside her books and "be hidden," as they
say in Arabic; then it is considered improper and immodest for a girl to
be seen in the streets. Her education stops just at the point when her
mind is beginning to open up, and she is learning to love her books.
Thrown back into the seclusion of the Harem she soon forgets all she
has learned. Should she be energetic enough to try to keep up her
lessons and try to get reading matter, she is met with the taunt, "Are
you a scribe or a lawyer, that you should read and write every day?"
The girls who have an opportunity of going to school at all are in the
minority, but for those who do, as in Christian lands, there is a
peculiar fascination and joy connected with the first day of school
after a month or two of vacation. Girls, new pupils and old, come
trooping into the schoolroom enthusiastic, eager, and bright, rejoicing
with all the ardor of childhood that they are allowed to come back to
their beloved school and that they are not yet old enough to be
"hidden." But there is a strain of sadness in all this joy, for in their
interchange of confidences and family bits of news it comes out that a
certain Fatima and a certain Zeinab, their big sisters, are sitting at
home very sad and even shedding bitter and rebellious tears because,
poor things! they have been "hidden" and their schooldays are over.
A day or two after our school began, the teachers and girls were all
startled by a rustle of long garments sailing in at the door. On closer
observation they soon saw that their visitor was none other than little
Habeeba of last year, who during the summer had blossomed out into a
woman by donning all the trappings of a Harem lady, and she was truly
"hidden," for not a speck of her face showed except one bright eye. She
could not stay away from her beloved school, she said, so had begged
special permission to come and spend an hour with her friends.
The seclusion of the Harem is more or less rigid according to the
caprice of some exacting husband or mother-in-law. As far as the younger
married women's experience goes it is mother-in-law rule literally, for
seldom is a man permitted to take his wife to a home of his own. The
sons and even the grandsons must bring their brides home to the father's
house and all be subject to the mother. A household of fifty is no
uncommon thing. Much of the freedom of the younger women depends upon
what the old mother-in-law or grandmother-in-law thinks proper. Often
she rules with a hand of iron, probably to make up for her own hard life
in her younger days, intermixed with an honest desire to preserve and
promote the honor and dignity of her house. For the honor, dignity, and
aristocracy of a family are often estimated according to the rigor of
the seclusion of its women-folk.
Thousands of Egyptian women never step over their own thresholds and
many of them never make complaint, only saying, "Oh, you know our men
love us very much; that is the reason they imprison us. They do it to
protect us."
Among the strictest people a young woman is not permitted to be seen by
even her father-in-law. Nor is it allowable for her to be seen by any
male servants except eunuchs. Under such conditions it might be
wondered how a woman could keep her domestic machinery in running order,
but as one woman said, who had never seen the face of her cook although
he had been employed in her house for thirteen years, when asked the
question, "How do you tell him what you want for dinner?" "Oh, he knows
my wants, but when I wish to give a particular order, I tell the maid
servant, she tells the little boy servant, and he conveys the message to
the cook!"
It seems like the irony of fate that these women who are kept in such
strict seclusion should be so extravagantly fond of society. They
welcome in the most hospitable manner any visitors of their own sex. It
is pitiful to see how they love to have glimpses of the outside world. A
missionary lady tells of a woman whom she often visited, who had never
been outside of her house since her marriage, forty years before, and
who begged her to tell her something about the flowers, saying, "Ah, you
are happy women, free to go here and there and enjoy life!"
Many people who know only the outside of Egyptian life, when they hear
that the women have jewelry and beautiful dresses and servants to look
after every want, say they are happy and contented in their seclusion,
but those who visit them in their homes and talk with them in their own
language know how they writhe under it, how they weary of the idleness
and monotony forced upon them. One little woman, forced to spend her
life behind closed shutters, would feign illness so as to get an
opportunity to call in her friend, the lady missionary doctor, and, when
rebuked, would laughingly say, "What am I to do! I must see somebody to
pass away the time and I like to have you come to see me, but you won't
come unless I send you word I am ill."
It seems part of the nature of the Egyptian to distrust his womenfolk
and to believe them capable of any misdemeanor. Therefore they must be
carefully watched and kept in check. This distrust reacts upon the
nature and character of the women, often making them truly unworthy of
trust, but many of them are very sensitive on the subject and feel
keenly this unfair position into which they are thrown.
What has been said about the strict seclusion of Egyptian women refers
chiefly to the middle and upper classes, for the poorest women, those of
the peasant class, have the greatest freedom. They go about unveiled and
manifest a character of marked independence and self-reliance, but they
are ignorant beyond description, such a thing as books and schoolroom
being unknown quantities to them, and their lot is a life of drudgery.
Many of the village women labor in the fields from early morning to late
at night, especially during the cotton season, seven or eight months of
the year.
During the cotton-ginning season many women and girls work from 4
o'clock A.M. to 9 o'clock P.M. in the cotton-ginning mills. Those in the
vicinities of larger towns are vendors of fruit, vegetables, milk,
cheese, and butter. On market days great troops of village women can be
seen on the country roads, their wares in big baskets on their heads,
their babies perched astride their shoulders, wending their way to town.
Those who live in the larger towns are often employed as hodcarriers for
masons.
Their powers of endurance are marvellous. It is a common occurrence for
a woman to go out to pick cotton as usual in the morning and to come
back in the evening, carrying her basket on her head and in it her
new-born babe, and it has been known for a woman to start to town with
her marketing on her head, be detained an hour or two by the roadside
till she gives birth to her child, then with it continue her journey.
Besides being a drudge the peasant woman is nearly always a slave to her
husband. Of course she does not eat with him; if she goes out with him
she walks behind him while he rides the donkey, which it is her duty to
keep moving at a good pace by prodding with a sharp stick. If there is
anything to carry she does it. He does manage to carry his own cigarette
and walking stick! Often, too, she has to exercise her wits to tell her
lord amusing stories for his entertainment as they journey by the way.
One day some tourists met just such a couple on a country road. The poor
woman was trudging along with a big child sitting astride her shoulder
while its father rode the donkey. The suggestion was made that the child
might ride if its mother couldn't. To the credit of the smiling-faced
peasant the suggestion was followed.
III
FROM UNDER THE YOKE OF SOCIAL EVILS
Unhappy marriages are a natural result of the seclusion of women in
Egypt. It would be highly improper for a man to see his bride until
after he had married her. He has not even had the privilege of choosing
her. His mother did that for him, and it goes without saying that the
young man is not always suited. The story is told of a young man who at
his wedding feast was sitting so glum and silent that his young friends
teased him by saying, "Brother! brother! Why so sad on this joyous
occasion?" In answer he said, "I have just seen my bride for the first
time and I am woefully disappointed. She is ugly! tall, thin, and
weak-eyed." The tall "daughter-of-the-gods-girl" is not admired in
Egypt. Her short, fat, dumpy little sister is much more according to
Egyptian ideas of beauty. "Cheer up! cheer up!" said his friends, "you
are not such a handsome fellow yourself that you should have such a
handsome wife!" Shaking his head sadly, he said, "I feel like heaping
ashes on my head. If you don't believe me that she is ugly, go upstairs
and peep in at the Harem window and see for yourselves." Glad of the
chance of such a privilege, they did so and came back saying, "Brother,
heap more ashes on your head!"
Frequent divorce is a natural result of these unhappy marriages. Divorce
in any land is a social evil but in Egypt it is especially so, because
the divorce laws are such that in a peculiar way woman is degraded by
them.
It is difficult to obtain exact figures regarding the percentage of
divorce, as all cases are not recorded. There are some who say 50 per
cent. of marriages end in divorce, others say 80 per cent., and a
prominent Moslem when asked said 95 per cent. An experienced missionary
when asked her opinion, said, "Divorce is so common that to find a woman
who lives all her life with one husband is the exception."
In fact it is such an exception that it is a subject for remark, and a
visitor in a house where such happy conditions exist never fails to be
told about it.
Many women have been divorced several times, and a woman of twenty years
of age may be living with her third husband.
A native Bible woman who had worked among Mohammedans for fourteen years
when asked, "How many men or women of twenty-five years of age she
thought likely to be living with their original partners?" said, "Do you
mean that they should have kept to each other and that neither has been
divorced or married anybody else?"--"Yes." She laughed and said,
"Perhaps one in two thousand."
This was probably an exaggeration, but it shows that divorce is very
common, and that the percentage is even higher than those who love Egypt
and her people like to admit. It almost seems that the history of one's
Mohammedan acquaintances in Egypt might be given in an endless stream of
incidents about divorce and the intrigue and hate and jealousy attendant
on this, the greatest social evil of Egypt.
Many a young man has no hesitation about marrying and divorcing, keeping
up the process for a year or so till he at last finds a wife to suit
him. If it didn't degrade those he has cast aside, he might be excused
for doing so, as he has had no chance to choose his wife intelligently.
A young man of some spirit was determined to have a wife to please him
and who would be congenial to him. Seeing no other way to accomplish it,
he married and divorced in rapid succession six times. The seventh was a
queenly young woman, gentle and refined in all her ways, in whom the
heart of her husband might well rejoice, yet the terror daily hung over
her that she might be divorced in time like the other six. It was
pathetic to see how she tried to cultivate every little feminine art to
please her husband, how she tried to improve her mind so as to be a
companion to him, but constantly with the fear of divorce lurking in her
tender and loving heart.
Among the lower classes marrying and divorcing in rapid succession is a
form of dissipation. When pay-day comes, instead of going off on a big
drink (which, to the credit of Islam, is forbidden), they use their
money to defray the expenses of a season of debauchery, marrying and
divorcing as many wives as possible while the money lasts. Picture the
degradation of the poor women who are the victims (often unwilling
victims) of such orgies.
It would be interesting to bring in here everything that Mohammedan law
says about divorce, but the rules are many and complicated and almost
too revolting to put into words. It is enough to say that the husband
may divorce his wife without any misbehavior on her part or without
assigning any reason. It is all left to the will and caprice of the man,
and he has only to say, "Woman, thou art divorced," or he can even use
metaphorical language which must be understood by the ever-on-the-alert
wife to mean divorce, as when he says, "Thou art free!" "Thou art cut
off!" "Veil yourself!" "Arise, seek for a mate!" etc., etc. A certain
man had been away for a week or so on a business trip. He came home and
the first words he said to his wife, were, "I thought you had gone home
to your father's house!" She understood him to mean, and rightly too, "I
divorce thee!" so she packed up her things and went off.
If a man pronounce his sentence of divorce only once or twice it is
revocable, but if he pronounces it three times it is irrevocable, and
the divorced wife cannot be taken back by her husband till she has been
married to another man, has lived with him and been divorced; then her
former husband can take her back. This is the most revolting and
degrading of all the divorce laws, and the prophet Mohammed instituted
it thinking that the very repulsiveness of it would act as a restraint,
but strange to say it only seems to give more license.
A man will get into controversy with his friends perhaps. To strengthen
his statements he uses all sorts of oaths, the strongest of which is, "I
divorce my wife by the triple divorce." It takes legal effect. The poor
man is in great distress, for he really loves his wife. What is he to
do? He must go through the process of law to get her back. He hires a
servant or a strange peasant to marry her. The revolting part is that
the poor woman has to live with this hired husband till he is again
hired to divorce her, when she is free to go back to her former husband.
This case actually happened, and many like it with varying circumstances
might be related, although it can gladly be said that the irrevocable
divorce is not of such frequent occurrence as the revocable.
Some incidents will illustrate the various circumstances which cause
divorce or are excuses for it.
Abraham, the carpenter, came to his employer one day asking for an
advance of wages. "Why?" was asked. "I am going to get married," he
said, "and it costs much money." Then he proceeded to relate his
domestic troubles, how he had lived with his one wife sixteen years,
explaining that he deserved much credit for doing so, seeing that his
father during his lifetime had indulged in thirty-nine wives, but that
he had come to the point where he must divorce this wife as she really
did talk too much, so of course he would have to marry another.
A happy young mother had one little son whom she loved dearly. He was
accidentally burned to death. The poor grief-stricken mother mourned and
wept so much and so long that she became nearly blind. Because she had
no more children, her husband divorced her. In time she talked of
marrying again. The missionary who had visited her often and comforted
her in her sorrow, remonstrated on the grounds of her former experience.
She answered by saying, "A divorced woman must either marry again or
else live a life of sin."
A poor little child-wife received such injuries at the birth of her
first child because of the ignorance of those who attended her at the
time that she became an invalid, consequently her husband divorced her.
She heard of the Mission Hospital, where she might receive kindly
treatment. She was admitted and cured by an operation. Her husband then
restored her to his loving heart and home.