The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10

Seven Deadly Sins: "Fleet the seven that passed
into hell. They asked what these were and he
replied: Poly ,hoism, magic. murder, usury.
devouring tho property Of orphans, fleeing in
time Of war, and accusing chaste women of I'M
becoming conduct" Elsewhere in the Tradi-
tions may be read: There are seven whom God
will shade with His shadow in the day when
there will be no other shade than His: A Just
ruler. a young man who grows up in the service
Of God, a man whose heart cleaves to the
mosques. two men who love each other for the
love Of God. a man who rcsists temptation by
the fear of God, and a man who gives aims and
conceals 1t 80 that his left hand does not know
what his right hand does"
We turn to two particulars in which the Mos.
lem world is now sharply distinguished from
Christendom. We refer. OF course, to slavery
and polygamy. DR.. Smith reminds us that the
former institution existed in full vigor in Arabia
in time. He did not dream Of
abolishing 1t. but he greatly mitigated its evils.
He exhorted masters to clothe their slaves with
the same kind OF garments which they wore
themselves, and to feed them with tho same
kind of food which they themselves ate. He
added as a reason: They are your brothers
whom God has made subject to you" Moreover.
he encouraged manumission, making it q meri-
torious act, and recommending 1t as one of the
means Of atoning for sins Of omission. Finally,
by the emphasis laid on the brotherhood of be-
levers. he did much to secure mild treatment
Of slaves on the part of their masters. DR..
Smith comedies that in all this Islam did as
much as was done either by Judaism or Chris
tianity. That in the middle ages Christianity
had but little to boast Of as compared with Is
lam is shown by the fact that slaves were q
staple Of the Venetian trade to the East and
were exported from the domains Of tho Pope
himself. Prelates even were accused Of taking
the children Of their serfs and selling them to
the Jews. through whose hands they passed into
the possession of the Moslems.
The other matter in which the custom Of Islam
is repugnant to our ideas is its law of MARRIAGE
and divorce. Even here Mohammed introduced
a marked Improvement upon tho usages of
heathenism. Among the sins which he forbade
most strictly was adultery. When the deputa-
ton from Medina swore allegiance to him be-
fore the flight, he pledged them not to commit
the sin OF fornication. When asked to name tho
three greatest crimes. this was one Of the three.
the other two being polytheism and infanticide.
In the early part of his reign at Medina he or
dered one Of his followers to be stoned ON con-
fession Of adultery. When a deputation from
the important city Of Tais came with tho offer
that the city would become Moslem, II the COM
hahuo oSoihot uSuEy, duultSTys anu win "eEO
modified. the Prophet refused any concession.
These are sufficient proofs that Mohammed had
no desire to encourage license. and that, in
fact, his law was considerably moro strict than
the custom Of his ancestors. That he did not do
more for the elevation Of marriage IL attributed
to his ignorance of what Christianity really
teaches. The Christian Church. az We know,
early obscured the true doctrine Of marriage by
the prominence 1t gave to ~celibacy. The doctrine
that marriage is inferior to celibacy is one from
which the Arab revolts. The importance Of pro-
serving the family name and of keeping up the
strength of the clan causes him to value children
above all other blessings. So it came to pass
that M~ohammed. finding the ideal presented by
Christianity in the seventh century ono that
seemed to him perverted, fell back upon the po-
sition common to Hebrews and Arabs. Ho dis
tinctly repudiates celibacy In the Koran: I'VE
sent Jesus. the Son of Mary. and gave Him tho
Gospel to place in the hearts of those who fol-
lowed Him pity and compassion. but the monas-
tic life they themselves invented" He justihes
himselfin his polygamy by the example of the
prophets who had preceded him. having
David and Solomon especially in mind. 40
cording to DR.. Smith, the real evil in Moslem
society is not so much polyRamy as the freedom
OF divorce. Comparatively few Mohammedans
have moro than one wife at q time. Or the
other hand, there are comparatively few who
have not put away more than one wife in order
to take another. Now divorce was repugnant
to He never sent away any Of his
wives, though some Of them gave him anything
but a peaceful existence. He tried to regulate
divorce. making it moro difficult. That he
could prohibit it did not occur to him; tho disci.
Piles Of Jesus also found 1t impossible to sup.
pose such a prohibition practicable. In fact,
Mohammed stood substantially upon Jewish
ground. for the Jewish law allows the husband
to put away his wife il no find any seri-
GUS fault in her. nay, even II she burn
tho bread in baking. according to one school OF
Scribes. A curious phase of this subject is the
influence which Mohammed's own experience
with women had upon his legislation. There Is
probably no more striking example in history
OF tho extent to which regulations based on
the experience of a single individual may affect
a vast multitude of human beings for Q long
period OF time. The jealousy of the ~uxorious
old man led to the command that all women
should wear wells, which is still the rule OF
Eastern society. Again, the desire to shield his
faVorite wife from a scandal produced the law
that four witnesses should DO brought to prove
a charge of adultery. and tho accnser who can.
not produce these must receive eighty stripes,
1t is this law which causes Eastern husbands to
keep their wives under constant guard because
of the difficulty of proving unfaithfulness.
III.
In moro than ono passage of the Koran Mo.
hammed m that the great stumbling
block which his message put in tho way of his
compatriots was the doctrine OF the Resurrec.
tion. The unbelievers are represented by him as
saying to their friends: "Shall we bring you Ia
q man who tells that after you are scattered by
the decay OF your members you will become new
creatures r. unbelievers are charac.
terized as those who do not believe in the
future life. while believers are frequently de,
scribed as those who believe in the world to
come. The stress of tho message is laid
upon this exhortation: LET those who ex.
change the present life for he life Ia
come fight in the cause of God" Or. smith re,
minds us that the idea that those who use the
present life in order to gain the other make a
good bargain Is also found in the New Tesla.