governesses for their daughters, and they are eager for education. There
is no doubt that the customs are changing. Education is raising the
woman, and the man will naturally appreciate the change and will welcome
companionship and culture. To educate both men and women is the best way
of checking the evil system of polygamy, and its daughter, divorce.
Polygamy was promulgated by the Prophet as a bribe to the carnal man.
Without that carnal weapon I doubt if Islam had numbered a thousand
followers! It ministers to self-gratification in this world, and
promises manifold more of the same license in the world to come. It is
small wonder that when we speak of a clean heart and a right spirit
without which we cannot enter the spiritual kingdom, our words are
unintelligible. But that is our theme. Holiness, without which no man
can see the Lord! These poor women are so ignorant. They know that sin
has entered into the world, but they know not Him who has destroyed the
power of sin. They have never heard the words, "Fear not, I have
redeemed thee." ...
[Illustration: A VILLAGE SCHOOL IN SYRIA]
[Illustration: MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN GIRLS READING TOGETHER]
The following are the words of another writer:
Never believe people who tell you Moslem women are happy and well-off. I
have lived among them for nearly eighteen years and know something of
their sad lives.
A Moslem girl is unwelcome at her birth and oppressed throughout her
life. When a child is born in a family the first question asked is, "Is
it a boy or girl?" If the answer is, "A boy," congratulations follow
from friends and neighbors. But if the answer is, "A girl," all
commiserate the mother in words such as, "God have mercy on thee."
As the little one grows up she has to learn her place as inferior to her
brothers, and that she must always give in to them and see the best of
everything given to them.
I am glad to say that Christian missions have made it possible for her
to go to school if she lives in a town. But at the age of ten she is
probably taken away from her mother, the only real friend she is likely
to have in the world, and sold by her male relations into another family
where she becomes what is virtually a servant to her mother-in-law. We
know that mothers-in-law even in England have not always a good name,
but what may they be to a young girl completely under their power? Many
are the sad stories I have heard of constant quarrelling, followed on
the part of the little bride by attempts to run away to her old home,
and the advent of her relations on the scene of strife, to patch up a
reconciliation and induce the girl to submit to her fate.
Perhaps you say, "Why does her husband not protect his wife from
unkindness, does he not care for her?" There you strike upon the root of
a Moslem woman's unhappiness. The boy husband has no choice in his
bride, has probably never set eyes on her until the marriage day. He
seems to care little about her beyond making use of her. She is to be
his attendant to serve him and provide him with sons. As to the first, I
have watched one of these girls in a merchant's house in Jerusalem
standing in attendance on her young husband's toilet, handing him
whatever he wanted, and folding up his thrown-off clothes. But I looked
in vain for the least sign of kindly recognition of her attentions from
him in look or word or deed. The Moslem thinks it beneath his dignity to
speak to his wife except to give orders, and does not answer her
questions. It is not customary for them to sit down to meals together,
and as for going for a walk together it would be scandalous! One must
not even ask a man after his wife in public and she may not go out to
visit friends without his permission, and then veiled so thickly as to
be unrecognizable. The higher her social rank the greater the seclusion
for a Moslem woman.
Then, as to her motherhood. The young wife's thoughts are continually
directed to the importance of pleasing her husband and avoiding the
corporal punishment which accompanies his anger. If she does not bear
him a son she is in danger of divorce or of the arrival of a co-wife
brought to the house. It is strange that the latter trial seems to be
faced preferably to the former, which is a great disgrace.
A Moslem wife has no title until she has a son, and then she is called
the "mother of so-and-so," instead of being called by the name of her
husband. But she soon regrets the day he was born, for he defies her
authority and repulses her embraces. I have seen a boy of four years old
go into the street to bring a big stone to throw at his mother with
curses! The mothers soon age. Their chief pleasures are smoking and
gossip.
Their religion is very scanty. Some know the Moslem form of worship with
its prostrations and genuflexions. Most of them know the names of the
chief prophets, including that of Jesus Christ, and believe that
Mohammed's intercession will rescue them from hell. I once asked a rich
Moslem lady what was woman's portion in paradise, but she did not know.
Does this little description stir your pity? Are we to leave these, our
sisters, alone to their fate? To suffer not only in this life but also
in the life to come? If you saw their daily life, and knew the peace of
God yourself, I think you would want to do something to cheer them, by
telling them Christ loves them too, and that there is a great future
before them in Him and His Gospel.
XIV
MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN SYRIA
Syria is one of the countries bound down by the heavy chain which
Mohammedanism binds on the East. The weight of this chain presses most
heavily on that which is weakest and least capable of resistance, and
that means the hearts of the women who are born into this bondage.
There are probably from 1,200,000 to 1,500,000 Mohammedans in Syria, and
this estimate also includes the sects of the Nusairiyeh (the mountain
people in North Syria), the Metawileh, and the Druzes, who, though
differing in many ways from the true Mohammedans, are yet classed with
them politically. When the word "Christian" is used in this chapter it
should be understood as distinguishing a person or a sect which is
neither Jew, Druse, or Mohammedan, and does not necessarily imply, as
with us, a true spiritual disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our purpose is to show the condition of the Mohammedan and Druze women
in Syria to-day as far as it has been possible to ascertain the facts
which have been gleaned from those most qualified to give them. From a
casual survey one may very likely come to the conclusion that
conditions in Syria are better and the lives of the women brighter than
their co-religionists in other Mohammedan lands. There are happy homes
(or so they seem at first sight) where there is immaculate cleanliness,
where the mother looks well after the ways of her household and her
children, is ready to receive her husband and kiss his hand when he
returns from his work, where there is but one wife, and a contented and
indulgent husband and father. When you come to look more closely you
will find in almost every case that more or less light has come into
these homes from Christian teaching or example. There are many instances
on record of Mohammedan men testifying that the girls trained in
Christian schools make the best wives. More than once have they come to
thank and bless the Protestant teachers who have taught to their pupils
such lessons of neatness, gentleness, obedience, and self-control. There
are many Mohammedan men who are worthy to have refined, educated wives,
and can appreciate the blessing of the homes such are capable of making.
On the other hand, however, there is a very large proportion who need to
be educated themselves in order to know how to treat such women and who
have the deserved reputation of being brutal, sensual, unspeakably vile
in language and behavior. Many of these belong to the better class in
the large inland cities. The women who are at the mercy of the caprices
and passions of such men are very greatly to be pitied.
In the towns along the coast, where there is more enlightenment; the
women have more freedom and seem outwardly happier than those who are
more strictly secluded in the towns where Mohammedanism is the
predominant influence. Freedom, however, is used as a comparative term,
for the following was told to me to show what privileges are accorded
under that name to the upper-class women in one of the smaller coast
cities. They are allowed to go often, every day if they like, and sit by
the graves in the Mohammedan cemetery. When you consider the fact that
they are shrouded in their long "covers" or cloaks, with faces veiled,
and that the cemetery is not a cheerful place, to say the least, and
that it is the only place where they are allowed to go, this so-called
"freedom" does not seem to be so very wonderful, after all. However, it
is far better than being shut indoors all the time.
[Illustration: A FAMILY GROUP AT JERICHO]
Any one living among these people becomes gradually accustomed to the
accepted state of things, especially when one has learned that outside
interference only makes matters worse, and it is only now and then when
some especially sad or heart-rending thing comes to your knowledge that
you realize how truly dreadful the whole system is. The other day I was
talking about this with a friend whose knowledge of Mohammedan women had
been confined to a few families who on the outside would compare very
favorably with Christian families she knew, as regards comfort,
cleanliness, and contentment. I agreed with her that there were many of
the nominal Christian families where there certainly was great
unhappiness. But one must not, in comparing the two, lose sight of the
bitterest, darkest side. No Christian woman has to contend with the fact
that if her husband wearies of her, or some carelessness displeases him,
he is perfectly at liberty to cast her off as he would toss aside an old
shoe. In fact he would use the same expression in speaking of his shoe,
of a dog, some loathsome object, the birth of a daughter or of his
wife,--an expression of apology for referring to such contaminating
subjects. Nor does a Christian woman fear that as the years pass and her
beauty fades, or her husband prospers, that one day he will cause
preparations to be made and bring a new wife home. The Mohammedans have
a proverb that a man's heart is as hard as a blow from the elbow, and
that his love lasts not more than two months.
A Mohammedan friend was telling me of a woman she knew and was fond of.
"She was a good wife and mother," she said, "and she was very happy with
her two children, a boy and a girl; her husband seemed to love her, for
she is not old, and it was a great surprise to her when he told her one
day that he was going to marry another wife, for she had forgotten that
it might be. He said he would take a separate room for the new wife. She
said nothing--what could she say? But he deceived her, for he only took
the room for the new wife for one week, and then he brought her to live
with the first wife. And now she weeps all the time, and oh! how unhappy
they all are! I tell her not to weep, for her husband will weary of her
and divorce her." A shadow crossed the face of my friend as she spoke,
and I could see she was thinking of her own case, and fearing the fear
of all Mohammedan women. "Why did that man take another wife when he was
happy and had children?" I asked, for I knew that where there are no
children a man feels justified in divorcing his wife, or taking a
second, third, or fourth. "He wanted more children. Two were not
enough."
Can there be any real happiness for a Mohammedan woman? She gets little
comfort from her religion, although if she is a perfectly obedient wife,
attends faithfully to her religious duties, and does not weep if her
child dies, she has a hope that she may be one of seventy houris who
will have the privilege of attending upon her lord and master in his
sensual paradise. The idea of these two horrors, divorce and other wives
to share her home, is constantly before her.
A Protestant woman recently told me that she had let some of her rooms
to a Mohammedan family from Hums. The man was intelligent and the wife
was an attractive young woman with a little girl. The man told her in
the presence of his wife that when he went back to Hums he thought he
should take another wife. "Why do you do that when you are so happy as
you are? Think of your wife--how unhappy it would make her to have you
bring in another!" The man laughed and told her that she made a great
mistake in thinking that Mohammedan women were like Christian women,
that they did not mind having another woman in the house, they were
accustomed to it and brought up to expect it. "But I hope that what I
said will make him think and perhaps he will decide not to take another
wife, for I showed him plainly the evil of it."
The women may be brought up to expect it,--they may have been the
members of a polygamous family themselves,--but the human heart is the
same the world over, and the sanctity of the home with one wife is never
invaded without poignant suffering. A wealthy Mohammedan will establish
each of his wives in a separate house, those not able to afford this
luxury have their harem in one house. It does not require a very vivid
imagination to be able to picture the inevitable result: jealousies,
heartburnings, contentions, wranglings, and worse.
A Bible woman told me of dreadful scenes where the women fight like cats
and dogs, and the husband takes the part of the wife he loves the best
and beats the others. One feels that the man often bears his own
punishment for this state of things by being obliged to live amid such
scenes.
In a city of Northern Syria where the Mohammedans are the most powerful
class and their haughtiness and contempt of women so great that they
will elbow a foreign woman into the gutter, not necessarily because she
is a Christian, but because she is a woman, a Syrian woman whispered
during a walk: "Look at that man over there, I'll tell you about him
later." And afterwards she explained that the man was a neighbor and he
had just taken his fourth wife, and she was only ten years old. He was
an elderly man with gray hair.
One well-known and wealthy Mohammedan had splendid establishments in
four different places and he is said to have had thirty sons. Another
brought home an English wife, with whom he had lived ten years in
England, and established her in an apartment just above the one in which
one of several wives was living. Could English girls realize the misery
in store for them in marrying Mohammedan husbands, they would be
thankful for any warning. Even if the husband himself is kind, there are
many painful things to undergo from his women relatives. And worse than
all is the denying of Christ before men in the acceptance of Islam. One
of these English women living in Syria as the wife of a Mohammedan, had
her daughter married to an own cousin at the age of thirteen, another
was obliged to give her ten-year-old daughter in marriage. I asked this
last woman how she could do such a thing. "It is her father's will and I
could do nothing." But she ran away the next day, so the man divorced
her. This same daughter has been married and divorced twice since then,
and is now living at home, and is at the head of a Mohammedan school for
girls. Two other sisters have been divorced, and are at home, one with
her child.
In Beirut, among the better classes girls are not married as young as
they used to be, though occasionally you hear of instances, as in the
case of a woman who had eight daughters and married two of them, twins,
at the age of eight. She gained nothing by this cruel act as they were
soon divorced and sent home. One reason for child-marriages among
Mohammedans in Syria is the conscription which demands for the army
every young man of eighteen. The one who cannot afford to escape
conscription by paid substitutes or money may be exempt if he has a wife
dependent upon him. When he is sixteen or seventeen his family send off
to some distant town for a young girl who is a destitute orphan, and
this child is married to the youth,--she may be ten years old, or nine,
or even eight, and cases are known where a girl of seven has been
married to a boy of sixteen.
One can hardly wonder that many of these girls are divorced, for they
are simply untrained, naughty children, unable to grasp what the duties
of a wife are, or that it is necessary to please their husbands or
conciliate their mothers-in-law. Mohammedan women say that the happiness
of a child-wife and her status in the family depend almost entirely upon
her mother-in-law. It is a sad fact that these little brides--children
in years--are very often old in knowledge of evil. Most Mohammedan
children are brought up in an atmosphere of such talk that their natures
seem steeped in vulgarity from their cradles and no mystery of life or
death is hidden from them.
It makes one's heart sick to think of these children, so sinned against
and so cruelly treated for being the products of this system. Sad
stories are told of those who are put out to service, especially when
they go to Turkish families. It is not very common, fortunately, for
there is always the fear that the men in the family, regarding them as
lawful prey, will ill-treat them. Girls disgraced in this way have a
terrible fate.
A friend came to us one day, weeping because of a dreadful thing which
had just come to her knowledge, too late, alas! for any help to be
given. The daughter of a neighbor, a poor man, had been sent out to
service, and the worst befell her. She was sent home in disgrace,--her
father was obliged to receive her, but he would not recognize her or
have anything to do with her till one day he ordered her to go out into
the garden and dig in a spot he indicated. Each day he came to see what
she had accomplished, till at last there was a hole deep enough for her
to stand in, her full height. Her father then called his brothers, they
brought lime, poured it over her, and then buried the child alive in the
hole she herself had dug. She was only twelve years old! The neighbors
found it out and informed the government. The parents and all concerned
were imprisoned, and the father is still in prison, though the mother
has been released.
The feeling is strong that such a disgrace can only be wiped out by
death, and this is especially the case when there has been misconduct
between a Mohammedan man and a Christian woman. In a Syrian city a
Christian girl of aristocratic family was betrothed and was soon to be
married when suddenly the engagement was broken. It could no longer be
hidden that she had been guilty of wrong relations with some man, and
the man proved to have been a Mohammedan. This disgrace was intolerable
to the families involved, and before long a man connected with the
family came to the girl with a glass of liquid, and said: "Here, drink
this!" She took it, drank, and died. Comments on it showed that the
sentiment of the community is in sympathy with such a course. "What else
could be done?" they say.
Probably a Mohammedan would not see the inconsistency of condemning to
death the child-victim of a man's lust, as in the first instance given,
while practically the same thing is legalized in allowing the marriage
of children with the probability of a divorce in the near future. How
can they hope for the growth of purity among their women, or wonder when
immorality and unchastity are discovered!
Frequent reference has been made to divorce. It is the weapon always at
hand when a man is dissatisfied. His law allows him to divorce his wife
twice and take her back, but if he divorce her the third time, he may
not take her back until she has been married to another man and divorced
by him. The ceremony is a simple one; repeating a formula three times in
the presence of a witness not a member of the household, and telling the
wife to go to her father.
A divorced wife must go back to her father's house, or to her brother if
her father is not living, or to her nearest relative. If she is
friendless then she has the right to go before the Mejlis or Court, and
state her case. She is asked if she wishes to marry again, and if so,
the Court must find a husband for her. If not, then the husband is made
to support her. If she returns to live with her friends, the husband has
to give her one penny halfpenny a day. If there are children under seven
they go with the mother. If they are older, they are allowed to choose
between mother and father. They are supported by the father.
The Mohammedans have a saying that when a woman marries she is never
sure that she will not be returned, scorned and insulted, to her
father's house the next day; nor, when she prepares a meal for her
husband, is she sure that she will be his wife long enough to eat of it
herself.
In conversation with a Mohammedan woman one day we were commenting on
the fact that a certain wealthy bridegroom had given directions to the
professional who was to adorn his bride for her marriage, not to
disfigure her face with the thick shining paste which is usually
considered (though very mistakenly) to enhance her charms. He was
reported to have said that he wished to see her face as God had made it.
I remarked that I thought it was very sensible and that I did not see
what was ever gained by disfiguring a face by plastering it with paint
and powders. The woman said: "But you do not understand! We do it so
that we may be beautiful in our husband's eyes, for if we are pale or
wrinkled they cease to love us and go to other women or else they
divorce us." It is very far from being "for better, for worse,--in
sickness, in health."
It is impossible to gather statistics as to the proportionate number of
divorces. All the women say, "It is very common." The condition of a
divorced woman returned to her father's house is not an enviable one. In
some cases they are kept on like servants, living in some out-house or
stable, or in some inferior room if the house is a grand one. It has
been suggested by a writer, that the sight of the misery of these
positionless women has a strong influence upon the young men of the
family, making them determine that they will never have more than one
wife. Let us hope that this is true. From what is told me I have learned
that it is not usually the young men who have more than one wife, but
the older ones. I must not omit to say that in the smaller Mohammedan
settlements where there is much intermarrying in families, there is
almost no divorce, for even if a man wishes it, he must be very
courageous to brave the united wrath of the whole circle of female
relatives or of his enraged uncle or cousin, who resents bitterly having
his daughter sent back to her home.
Among the poorer people, too, those who have come most closely under my
observation, divorce is rare and no man has more than one wife. But they
are steeped in superstition and many are so bigoted they will not
receive the visits of the Bible woman nor allow their children to attend
schools. Frequently, in paying visits, we will find a blind Mohammedan
sheikh instructing the women in the Koran, and some of them have very
glib objections to offer to the New Testament stories and truths we read
to them. They will often ask to be read to, but the Old Testament is the
favorite book.
Among the Druzes, divorce is even more common than it is among the true
Mohammedans, and the state of morals is very low. The Druzes are an
interesting, even fascinating people. They live on the Lebanons and
inland on the Druze mountains of the Hauran, and are a warlike
independent race, of fine physique, and most polished, courteous
manners. Some of their women are very beautiful and their peculiar
costumes are most becoming and picturesque. They are always veiled, but
one eye is uncovered, and it is second nature with them to draw their
veils hastily across their faces if a man appears in sight. As was said
before, they are classed with the Mohammedans although they have their
own prophet, Hakim, and they take pride in having their own secret
religion, which is little more than a brotherhood for political
purposes. It is extremely difficult to make any real impression on them.