Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-08-16
Mohammedan Women. i.
Frazer's S Magazine.l

In any.seriOus question Of reform
among Mohammedans, the position
of women must occupya prominent |
place. We are not now speaking
Of polygamy, but of the seclusion
of women, the abnegation of their
influence, and, as a corollary of
this, the rearing of the entire pop
ulation in friyolity, ignorance and
vice. The Koran bids men Gre
spect women, of whom they are
born" but few isolated precepts
like this are powerless against its
general tenor. The Turkish wo-
men shuttle unnoticed through the
streets in their yellow slippers, or
sit for hours in the meadows of the
"sweet waters" their bright fere-
I iehs cleaning like parti-colored
bed Of tulips. If their owner is a
man of mark they are taken for an
airing in a gilded coach, Or they
are huddled like sheep by their
black wardens into a separate pen
on the little steamers, which pant
busily across the Golden Horn.
The life of a. Turkish woman is
vapid and meaningless; she is as
. ignorant as a child-yet even the
. Grand Vizierat is often at the dis
posal of harem intrigue. And il
we would discover the cankerwhich
lies at the root of Turkish society
we must seek it in the practice
which condemns the children OF
both ssxes to the vicious atmos
phere of the harem during the
most plastic years of life. The
origin of this treatment of womer
l. we shall find not in the dictates O
}. Oriental jealousy, but in the teach
N ing of the Koran. The divin,
n book by no means ignores the exis
: tence of woman. 1t lays dowl
4 most careful and minute rules fo
her walk in life. But it treats he
rather as an adjunct to man THAI
as an Independent, responsible be
. ing. Obedience is the corner-ston
. obedience to him who rules owe
. her. Home is her proper place, bu
if she goes abroad she must vel
her face and breast; nay, some say
TO even her hands. "Speak unto tn
10 wives and thy daughters and tn
wives of the true believers" say
=. the Koran, "that they cast thei
IN outer garments over them whel
they walk abroad-belieying VIC
men must not discover their orna
ments and let ther
( throw their wells over their bosoms.
1t is in such light matters as thes
that we see the difficulty Of
/. change in the current of Easter
Thought. 1t is not merely the IL
'n IS. yeterate habit of centuries, thong
E. E: this is stronger than law, but also
i. matter Of religion. The SPANS !.
to to lady may exchange her m:e.utllla IL
re- rIo' a Paris bonnet, with a sigh perhaI
,ut at the despotism of fashion; but
ms her Turkish sister lays aside he
he he yashmak she infringes solemn ord
les nances of her religion and degrad,
h99 herself in the sightof all. II, hoy
il ever, as we have seen, the Koro
soi Iod awards very modest place in ii
m scheme of society to woman, it do
ta- not, as many have supposed, o
Gs 5s, solve her from responsibilities he
rk. or exclude her from participate
J. in the life to come. This wouldH
manifest, even though no 9th
~. duty had been enioined than pc
the forming the pilgrimage to Mect
tes' which is of such paramount impc
tance that it is declared that a mi
lne might as well die a Jew or Chr
tan as neglect it. 1t has be
ont. enormously supposed that the K
'. ran allows women no souls. Is
. it expressly states that the Mus8l
man, in addition to his soyenty-t1
- -, celestial brides, shall be allowed
Il ! company of any Of his wives
Paradise of whom he may not ha
grown tired on earth. The Proph
), too, finding that his interrogation
one occasion was not satisfied W
= the declaration that there would
ky no old women in heaven, hastei
four to add that he only meant by {