WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
bath. In the wonderful Moorish cities of Spain there were baths in every quarter. The "Turkish bath," with its massage, friction, sweating, and stimulation of the skin, was no doubt designed for other purposes besides ablution.
Celibacy is regarded with pious horror by true believers in Allah. E. W. Lane, author of "Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," found hostility among his neighbours in Egypt because he was unmarried. Difficulties were placed in the way of obtaining a house, and Lane was told that the purchase of a female slave would remove all disabilities. A sheikh besought him to marry a handsome young widow, who was quite willing to be divorced at the end of the visitor's two years' sojourn, or whenever it might suit him.
The avoidance of the sin of celibacy is not difficult in the East. In Egypt, the woman who said, "I give myself up to thee," to a man who desired her as wife, was allowed to marry, even without witnesses, if none could be found. Illicit unions are, therefore, uncommon even to-day.
Oriental male supremacy is expressed clearly in the description of Paradise. In the material heaven prepared for men of this faith, the poorest man is rewarded with seventy-two beautiful brides. The virgins of Paradise are termed houris, or hooreeyehs.
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