Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/117

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HOME AND THE FAMILY
103

tions in respect to marriage and divorce. As long as marriage is regarded as a kind of slavery in which the wife is considered the servant of her husband instead of his equal; as long as he requires her implicit obedience to his will, provided it is not contrary to the laws of Islam; as long as he may marry four wives, and keep as many concubines as he can afford; as long as he may divorce his wives at will and marry others in their place; as long as a man can do these things and still be considered a good Moslem, just so long will the Islamic conception of home and family be wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of these modern times.

Wherever we find exceptions to this statement—and the number of homes where better conditions are found is increasing in almost every Moslem land the improvement must be attributed to Christian ideals. Radical changes are taking place today in spite of the forces of tradition and conservatism. The process of rebuilding society and the reconstruction of religious thought so as to bring Islam up to date constitute two of the major concerns of the reformers in India, Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Iraq, to say nothing of Turkey. Moslems themselves now realize with increasing force that the old wineskins simply cannot any longer hold the new wine without bursting.