Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/228

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relation, Al-Ghazali certainly inspires our respect by what he says on the kindly treatment of the wife and the evil of divorce. Only one would like to know whether he himself had more than one wife and whether she was a worthy helpmeet to her husband and he to her. His biographers are silent.

"A man should remain on good terms with his wife. This does not mean that he should never cause her pain, but that he should bear any annoy ance she causes him, whether by her unreasonable ness or ingratitude, patiently. Woman is created weak, arid requiring concealment; she should there fore be borne with patiently, and kept secluded. The Prophet said, He who bears the ill-humour of his wife patiently will earn as much merit as Job did by the patient endurance of his trials/ On his deathbed also he was heard to say, Continue in prayer and treat your wives well, for they are your prisoners.

" Wise men have said, Consult women, and act the contrary to what they advise/ In truth there is something perverse in women, and if they are allowed even a little license, they get out of control altogether, and it is difficult to reduce them to order again. In dealing with them one should endeavour to use a mixture of severity and tenderness, with a greater proportion of the latter. The Prophet said, Woman was formed of a crooked rib; if you try to bend her, you will break her; if you