Among the Arabs, prior to Mohammed, the women were in a wretchedly
debased condition, which has been but slightly improved by the rules of
the Koran. By its sanction, wives were bought by their husbands, though
it was asserted that it was not lawful for men to exchange their wives.
The price paid by Mohammed for his wives, of which he had nine, varied,
according to their rank and beauty, from one to one hundred dollars
each. The common people procured theirs at a cheaper rate. Specific
directions are given, too, for the proper government of women. "Those
wives," says Mohammed, "whose perverseness ye may be apprehensive of,
rebuke, and remove them into separate apartments, and chastise
them."[B] When such precepts as these were laid down in the Koran,
which was considered a direct revelation from God, it is not surprising
that the severest punishment was inflicted on women who attempted to
exercise any control over themselves or their households. The will of
the proud, insolent Arab was supreme, whether his demands were
reasonable or otherwise; having bought his wives cheap, he might
maltreat or divorce them at pleasure. Like the Chinese, the Mohammedan
women are denied the hope of immortality. "Earthly women, when they die,
cease to have any existence; but men, if faithful to Mohammed, are to
enter paradise, and be associated with a _new_ race of transcendently
beautiful female beings." "The glories of eternity," says the Koran,
"will be eclipsed by the resplendent 'women of paradise,' created 'not
of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk, and free from all
natural impurities, defects, and inconveniencies incident to the sex;
... secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearl.'"[C]

A distinguished European writer observes: "The Hindoos seem to have
legislated with the greatest care and detail concerning women. Yet by no
people, legally speaking, is her individuality more entirely ignored;