This is most pure for you and most decent. God knoweth, but ye know not' [Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 229, 232] . We shall quote one more verse from the Qur'an on this subject, namely, Suratu'n-Nisa (iv) 24: ' If ye be desirous to exchange one wife for another, and have given the one a talent, make no deduction from it.' These quotations establish it beyond a doubt that the Qur'an legalizes divorce, and the re-marrying of the divorced, and that no weightier reason is required from a man who wants to divorce his wife than his mere wish to do so, the wife herself having no right secured her than that of claiming the sum of money settled upon her by her husband at the time of marrying. If we compare with this unlimited licence granted by the Qur'an the peremptory. prohibition of divorce conveyed in the word of the Lord Jesus, 'What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder' (Matt. xix. 6), then we cannot for a moment remain doubtful as to the fact whether the Qur'an is a confirmation and higher development of the doctrines of the Gospel in this respect, or whether the teaching of the Arabian Prophet is diametrically opposed to the declaration of the Messiah. One thing is certain, that God ordained matrimony as early as He created the first human couple, but that He gave them not the slightest intimation that they were at liberty to tear asunder that conjugal tie with which He had united them;

and another thing is no less certain, namely, that, four thousand years afterwards, the Lord Jesus, whom every orthodox Musalman regards as a true prophet sent by God, expressly forbade the dissolution of the marriage tie by man himself; but if, six hundred and ninety years later, another law is propagated, giving every married man full liberty to divorce his wife for any reason he pleases, and to repeat such divorce as often as he chooses, so that cases become possible, as are known to have actually happened amongst the Muslims, of men successively marrying and divorcing twenty, thirty, or more wives then the question naturally suggests itself to every reflecting mind, 'Can such a law likewise have emanated from the unchangeable God?'

It cannot be denied, that, in consequence of the legitimate character with which their law invests divorce, and the great facility it provides for effecting it, divorces have become of amazing frequency among the Muhammadans, incomparably more so than the practice of polygamy; and the evils inseparable from them must therefore have a most baneful effect upon Muslim society. Every one living in a Muhammadan country, especially in large cities, has abundant opportunity to observe how frequently divorce is the source of cruel injustice, and extreme distress to the divorced woman. To mention only one case out of a great many. The writer of this book knows a Muslim