THE MIDDLE EAST: Daughters of the Prophet

"Oh, women of the Prophet," commands the Koran ". . . stay quietly in your houses." A 12th century philosopher was more specific: "A woman should go out of doors only thrice—to go to her husband's house, to the funeral of her parents and, finally, to her own funeral." Omar the First (581-644) advised: "Consult women, and then do the contrary of what they advise."

In the back countries of the Moslem world, the men who can afford it still keep the Allah-granted quota of four wives. Unable to read, forbidden to attend schools, or to listen to the deliberations...

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