POLYGAMY 191 



marriage with Zeinah, but reproved him for having 

 hesitated to add her to the number of his wives. By 

 the same Sura various other of Mahomet's domestic 

 troubles were allayed. His partiality for Ayesha 

 provoked discontent in his harem until it was revealed 

 to him as the divine will that a husband was dis- 

 pensed from paying an equal amount of attention to 

 all his wives. He himself, on the other hand, was 

 somewhat inclined to jealousy. Accordingly his 

 wives, some of whom were young and beautiful, were 

 invested with a special sanctity, and a divine inter- 

 dict was set upon their marrying again.^ It is strange 

 to reilect how greatly the world has suffered from 

 the caprices, the fears, and the fancies of one self- 

 indulgent old man. 



Hindu marriage, which affects the welfare of some 

 hundred and fifty millions of the human race, is another 

 example of the perversion of natural laws by religious 

 fanaticism or superstition. Based upon the sacred 

 books of Manu, which date many centuries before 

 Christ, Hindu marriage is distinguished by the 

 multiplicity of wives or concubines, the betrothal of 

 mere children, and the indissolubility of the nuptial 

 tie, however contracted. Eeligious authorities declare 



^ Sir W. Muir's Mahomet and Islam, 



