Page:Walter Matthew Gallichan - Women under Polygamy (1914).djvu/131

 Some inquirers hold the view that Islam triumphed in India through a dissatisfaction with the caste system, and that converts were attracted by the more democratic temper of the alien religion. The question need not be discussed here. It is enough to say that the Indian Empire contains more followers of Islam than any other part of the globe.

The Moslem women of India hold a somewhat different position from that of the women of Arabia, North Africa, and Turkey. Unquestionably Mohammedan women enjoy numerous rights and privileges, though their sphere is limited practically to the home.

But in family life, they are supreme. In some households, the wife exercises much higher authority than the husband, who hands over to her, not only the domestic sovereignty, but the conduct of important business affairs. If he wishes to sell property, he takes his wife's advice. Even in the matter of his dress, an Indian Moslem husband is under the direction of his spouse, and the most fashionably-attired men are those who rely upon their wives' taste.

Christian missionaries in India have drawn dark pictures of the "terrible degradation of Mohammedan women." The Rev. Joseph Cook, preaching in Boston, declared that there are 80,000,000 women in