190 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



being sold by their parents to some wealthy 

 functionary. 



And the most shocking feature of Mahomedanism 

 is that the customs which have shackled a large 

 section of the human race for so many centuries 

 appear to have had their origin in the personal 

 necessities of the so-called successor of Christ. Poly- 

 gamy is the Mahomedan law, because Mahomet 

 allowed himself the luxury of ten wives. The faith- 

 ful are restricted to four, but this restriction is 

 tempered by a liberal allowance of concubines. As 

 to the veil, that was suggested by an incident in 

 Mahomet's own experience. While he was visiting 

 Zeid, his adopted son, Zeid's wife, Zeinah, started up 

 in confusion to array herself decently, but the 

 accidental revelation of her charms made a profound 

 impression upon the prophet. Sura xxiv. was pro- 

 mulgated soon afterwards. But the prophet was 

 unable to banish from his mind the thought of 

 Zeinah's beauty. He wished to marry her, and Zeid 

 was not unwilling that he should, but the relation- 

 ship of the two men, as father and son by adoption, 

 rendered the transaction scandalous. The difficulty 

 was solved by a special revelation, set forth in Sura 

 xxxiii., which not only sanctioned the prophet's 



