This text is eloquent. It first of all consecrates masculine superiority by divine right, then marriage by purchase, and lastly, the liberty of the husband to treat his wives with brutality.
The restrictions on polygamy found in the Koran are very slight: "Marry not the women whom your fathers had to wife: it is a sin, and abomination: except what is already past."[1]
No retrospective effect here! We may conclude from this that, up to the time of Mahomet, the sons inherited the harem of their father, as is still the case in a number of little despotic states of negro Africa.
The holy book also commands respect for the feminine property of others, save in the case of capture by war or of religious infidelity of the husband. "You are forbidden to take to wife free women who are married, except those women whom your right hand shall possess as slaves: such is the law of God."[2] "O believers! when believing women come unto you as refugees, try them. And if you know them to be true believers, send them not back to their infidel husbands; but give their husbands back what they have expended for their dower."[3] In the Koran the respect for money is already much greater than for females. The wife must be purchased. "It is permitted unto you to procure wives with money, and you shall keep them in virtuous ways, avoiding debauchery. Give unto her with whom thou dost cohabit the dower thou hast promised."[4]
The prophet counsels the faithful, without however commanding it, to have a small number of wives: "But if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards the orphans, take in marriage of such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more."
The text ends with a permission to the man merely to pay a fictitious dowry to the wives: "Assign dowries freely to your wives, and if it pleases them to give you back a part, enjoy it conveniently at your ease."[5]
As for the prophet himself, he was to be above most of the restrictions which he imposed on others: "O prophet,
