| Show A GOOD WORD FOR FOB ISLAM father hyacinthe or charles loyson attracted much attention many years ago because of his glowing eloquence and liberal views the latter finally causing him to be suspected of serious heresy he was first censured by the catholic press for acknowledging the existence of three great religions of civilized people the jewish the catholic and the protestant and later for fraternizing with various sects in the united states and great britain Dri tain finally he was released from his hia monastic vows and made a secular priest with the title of abbe it appears that mr hobsons Loy hoy sons wife is not less liberal in her views nor less courageous in expressing them than her celebrated husband during a two years sojourn among mohammed dans in north africa palestine and syria she mingled with the natives and made their modes of life a special study some of her impressions are given to the westminster gazette the lady takes a decidedly favorable view and pronounces many of the ideas prevalent among christians christiana to be prejudices the fact deserves notice in the interest of fairness and truth mme ame loyson does not justify the massacres the sickening details of which are sufficiently well known to the world but she maintains that notwithstanding these occurrences no creed is more tolerant of other monotheistic beliefs than the mohammedan idolatry the Muss ulmen hate it is the idolater ido lator that must be converted even at the point of the sword A mohammedan accepts the belief in god and a future judgment as the essence esse nce of religion and cares but little for dogmatic differences as a proof of this to is mentioned that the madans still maint maintain aln with reverence the holy sepulchre and permit christians to worship there and erect their churches in the vicinity if the madans were left to themselves they would not persecute anyone they believe in government by god but are indifferent to the incidental forms it may assume on the question of the status of mohammedan ham women mme ame loyson has also formed an opinion not generally held these women the distinguished author says axe are satisfied with their position and on no condition accept the freedom of their christian sisters they want seclusion this to is essential tiel to their happiness it is in fact founded upon a lofty appreciation of the virtue of chastity to the mohammedan woman the harem isa is a sacred place the christian conception of it as the scene of debauchery Is absurd to T quote verbatim 1 I have visited many harems hares and can testify that polygamy which remember was only tolerated by mohammed is rarely practiced and when practiced does not involve that demoralization aliza tion or abasement of the wife which we commonly attribute to it the position of women in christian countries is in many respects horrible to them they say we have a legal and limited polygamy with you it is illicit and promiscuous remember however that the harem among the middle and upper classes almost always contains only one wife and what material devotion and dom domestic estia happiness we everywhere found the youths are as shy and as chaste as the maidens As to flirtation that is absolutely unknown A man seldom sees the face of his wife until after his marriage we have an idea that women are merely pretty playthings ravishingly angly beautiful they often are but they are also intelligent knowing the koran by heart and the most exquisite embroidery in the world comes from the harems hares A striking characteristic te of at the women is their complete freedom from curiosity even 9 a mirror is seldom found in the apartments mme ame loyson is no convert to islam she admits that the christian religion as it should be is perfect but she adds we are apostates we do not live our faith and we cannot as things stand claim any great superiority in practical morals over the moslem world |
