MOSLEM WOMEN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1669, 8 February 1913, Page 11

MOSLEM WOMEN.

A POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.

[Bi luogeh.]

It would be most interestinj to learn if one only iould, exactly what part the women of Turkey. have played in the present Balkan war. That one section of them liob been ready to make every sacrifice we have been able. to gather from various sidelights thrown upon ■Turkish people by recent writers and correspondents. Even from the cable .columns of . the daily papers something has been gleaned of thd spirit which they have tjeen' animated when we read of a Turkish lady of high rank living in Paris selling her .jowels and articles of value eo that she may forward tho money to the war fund, and also of tho Turkish women who jeered at thd offiocrs belonging to a man-of-war for not thirsting for fight. ' Tho old idoa that women of tho East played but an incidental and unimportant part in the life of their men and of their country is one that writera with a mora intimate and more . sympathetic knowledge ofsthe'East have proved to be a fallacy. Choosing the Cabinet. In all times and'in all countries women have mado history, but never more so than in the East, where men have often been but pawns in the'struggle for power waged by women, seoluded in tho harems certainly, but for all that , conversant with all that was going on around them. Lucy M. J. Garnett, a, well-known writer upon Turkish matters, .'says .that though we in the West ore very emancipated, we aro yet far from haying attained such, an "equality of the sexes" as would allow a Cabinet. Minister to divide with his wife the responsibility; of choos-, ing.his colleagues and subordinates in officer . Such, was the influence often possessed by the clever ond in-, triguing wife of a Grand" Vizier, not only directly over her husbaiid, but. indirectly through her i friends , in tho Imperial Serai, ;.so that the dismissal of old, and appointments of new functionaries of the Porte often rested to a great extent virtually with her. • ■' A little while ago an English lady who had been travelling in Turkey wrote an article ;in "The Queen" upon Turkish women, and with the, usual, inaccuracy of, so many European 'people who spend but a comparatively brief jioriod:visiting B country, made the- often-reiterated statement that the followers of Islam - deny souls to their wonienkind. ' This announcement drew 'a very -'dignified but emphatic, denial from a Turkish woman. As a matter of fact, tho Koran is most oxplicit ■upon this point, and nuhiber9 of texts may. be quoted to show that the joys of heaven are promised to "resigned and believing women." , "God has promised to all believers, men and women, gardens beneath which rivers flow,- to dwell therein for ever, and goodly plaoes in tho ,Garden of Eden," iras one.

Another I»—"Verily men resigned and -women resigned, and-believing men and believing women, and devout men and V devout women,- and truthful men. arid truthful women, and patient men arid patient women, and humble men and _ humble women, and alms-giving men and alms-giving women, and fasting men and fasting women . . ... and men who «- . member God much and women, who remember Him—God has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty hire." Her Legal Position. • The Prophet paid all regard and honour to his wives, and in especial to Khadija and A'isha, the latter having been tho favourite wifo 6f Mohammed, who had taken, the greatest pains with her education; A'lisha, who was for forty-eight' years the confidant of the Prophet, was consulted in all difficulties that arose ' concerning points of religion and law, and the Hadith or Traditional Sayings of Mohammed, wero supposed: to "have been made up: from her .replies, based upon the opinions sho had heard him express. It is rather curious that tho legal'position occupied by ,women in Turkey—Turkey that is regarded by many peoplo as tho last word m cruelty and many 'othor things besides—should bo one that is admittedly, freer than that of somo other countries that boast proudly of the',f enlightenment and political ..'freedom. ,For the last 1300 years she has been entitled, on the decease of her father, to inherit his property in common with hor brothors In a. proportion determined by law according to the number of.his (hor father's) children. Her wealth beforo and after her marriage is entirely under, her own control. Sho can inherit property without the intervention of trustees and dis- : pose of it either'during hor lifetime or after her. death, as she. pleases. No doctrino of coverture exists for her; she can be sued or sue independently of her husband, and also sue or be sued by him. Tho husband is legally bound to support his wife and hor slaves or servants acoording to her rank and his means, and to furnish her with a suitable residence.' The Hedaya (Commentary on Moslem law) says: "It is/incumbent on tho husband to provido a separate apartment for his wife's habitation, to bo solely and exclusively -appropriated by .her, because this is essentially necessary to her and is therefore her due, tho samo as her maintonnnco, etc." In the Matter of Divorce. Nor can she'bo divorced, capriciously, for bcsiile social arid religious restrictions

th« husband has'to pay back to the wifo, in the event of his wishing for a divorce, her dowry, which may be a largo ono. She can claim her release (with, the payment of dowry) for various reasons, among them being his desertion, cruelty, or refusal to maintain her in the degree of comfort to which she has been accustomed. If, however, without adequate reason, and contrary to tho desire of her husband she requests a divorce, 'eho obtains it only by forgoing her dowry. As to the custody of tho children, Mohammed decreed that a son must remain with his mothor so long as lie requiied her caro, and a daughter until she arrived ijt puberty. If a child t is born to tho coupfo after their separation, and tho mother nurses it, thd fatner must pay her for so doing. ' Lady Craven, over a hundred years ago, in her book, "A Journey Through the Crimea to Constantinople," -wrote: i think I never saw a country whero women enjoy so much liberty and aro free from all reproach as in Turkey. Tho maintenance of indigent parents by Mraloms is a law of Islam, particularly that of mothers and grandmothers. Hence it is that tho painful cases that are so frequently met with. in Christian countries of neglected parents* thrown upon charity is seldom met with among Moslem people. The Reason for the Harem. The seclusion of Moslem women, instead of being a result of their degraded position, wToto Lucy M. J. Garnett, was, on the contrary, the outcome of the respect and regard entertained for them by the men'of their country.- The veil and cloak of a'Turkish woman worn when abroad, kept her safe from insult or molestation, and in the harem she was sheltered from people of an alien and religion. . '• * •: ■ Turkey : has had her poetesses whose genius entitled thorn to rank with the literary celebrities of the age. Turkish chroniclers and authors both contemporary and' subsequent, with one accord pay tributes to the genius of. Zeyneb, the daughter, of an eminent judge in Asia Minor, who wrote in the fifteenth century. She was intensely patriotio in her poems, many of tljem are full of fire and pride of country. Mihri succeeded her and. like Sappho, sang of love. Then came Sidqi in the seventeenth centunr, a mystical singer. Fitnet Hanum in the eighteenth, and Hibetulla Sultana sister of Mohammed 11, a woman of wit,,beauty hi"h rank, "but-also-of ,a-most tragic history. Some of the poems of Levla Hanuni of the nineteenth century period, appeared in Vienna periodicals and to-day ■there are other Tnrkish women who have Kaiiied 'name and place in literature as well as in'education and political mat* - tC With such traditions, customs, and literature, it is not surprising that Turkish women of to-day should be fired Wl 'h anintense lovo of country and should beltevo in taking an active part in her destiny.