Walter Matthew Gallichan

“ In ancient times a custom known as beena marriage was common in Arabia. The wife was the actual owner of her tent and household goods, and could leave her husband upon just cause. There is no doubt that the Arabs have always tended to respect a woman's rights regarding property, and this respect has favoured the position of women, especially since the coming of Mohammed, who laid down definite laws. ”

“ In the height of their prosperity the Arabs excelled in the sciences, in medicine, in the arts and in philosophy, and built up a mighty civilisation.
The town dwellers in modern Arabia are sometimes polygamous, but the mass of the wandering herdsmen and traders marry only one wife. About a hundred years ago plural marriage was as comparatively uncommon in Arabia as it is to-day. ”

“ Yet it is amongst the wandering, adventurous Arabs that we must look for the birth of the ideals of romantic love and chivalry. These sons of the desert, who have been unjustly charged with cruelty to women, were, even in early times, very ardent and tender lovers. ”

“ Jealousy often exists between wives and concubines. A young girl is purchased as a slave, and her youth and comeliness allure her master. She has been " gazed upon," and in due time she becomes a paramour. The legal wife, or one of the wives, conceives a hatred for this rival, and a plot may be concocted for the slave girl's ruin. ”

“ Sir Richard Burton says that men will die for love in the East. The passionate, imaginative Bedouins are mostly chivalrous in their conduct towards women. They are still gentlemen, retaining strong, lasting traditions of honour, courtesy and hospitality.
The Bedouin women are lithe and active. Arabs dislike fat persons. As a rule, the women are un- veiled, though they wear a head covering. Burton
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describes some of the beauties of the plains as extremely handsome. ”

“ The Bedouins are not a religious people. Nominally they are Mohammedans, but they are not strictly devout. They observe the rule of circumcision and a few other Moslem rites. Their marriage ceremony is simple. Sons are married as soon as the father can afford the bride-price.
The system of concubinage existing in Arabia is a survival of the militarist days, when women were taken captives in battle. ”

“ In these cases the women were supervisors of the husband's affairs during his absence, or one would travel with him on trading expeditions, while the other remained in charge at home.
In this country, as elsewhere, the harem is the luxury of the wealthy. Polygamy is declining in Arabia, as it is in Turkey; but in Mecca, the rich sometimes main- tain two or three wives and a number of mistresses. According to Burckhardt, some of the middle-class Arabs used to buy young Abyssinian girls, keep them as concubines, and often sell them to foreigners. ”

“ CHAPTER XX THE ARABIAN CONCUBINATE THE early Arabs, a fierce, militant race, became, through conquests in India, Persia and Spain, a powerful and civilising force from the seventh to the tenth centuries. ”