Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/112

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relatives; sometimes she has none."[1] However, in the case of the very wealthy Moslem, where the dowry has been a substantial sum, this legal stipulation often discourages quick-tempered husbands from divorcing their wives on the spur of the moment.

Under certain conditions a woman may divorce her husband, but this is done very rarely, and the general belief in Islam is that divorce is a one-way procedure. Present-day Turkey provides an exception in the matter of divorce, for here a European divorce code has been adopted.


religious education of children

A way in which the devout Moslem home surpasses many a Christian home is in the matter of religious education. This is something in which devout Moslem parents take the greatest care. First of all there is the matter of the parent's own example. If the father and mother can read the Koran, it is one of their prime duties to set an example to the children. The prayers must be faithfully observed, and they must be said at the proper times at home by the mother, even if the father goes to the mosque for his.

When a boy is about six, he is placed in the care of a tutor, or sent to the nearest mosque school where the elementary rules for reading the Arabic Koran are taught. Little by little the lad advances in reading and memorizing sections of the Koran, until by the

  1. What Is This Moslem World?, by Charles R. Watson. New York, Friendship Press, 1937.