The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 4
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 4 sciences , but being a people under the necessity of traveling at night - particularly during the hot season - across pathless deserts, they were interested in the elements of astronomy and had acquired a certain degree of proficiency in them. Their principal vices were indulgence in liquor and gambling, and promiscuity in sexual relations. Woman was held in little honor, and among certain families who prided themselves on their status, the practice of infanticide of females was common. In fact, woman was regarded more as a chattel than as a companion or helpmeet, occupying a position only slightly above that of a slave. When a man died his sons inhe rited all his wives, except the mothers of the sons. Each son, however, was responsible for the we lfare of his own mother. Slavery was a familiar and widespread institution, and there was no limit to the hardship and indignity to which a slave might be exposed. The condition of slaves was a cycle of wretchedness and misery, terminated only by death, The wealth and substance of the nomadic tribes consisted of horses, camels, sheep, and goats, all of which were highly valued on account of their useful qualities. They served as means of transport and sustenance, and they provided protection in the form o f tents and clothing fashioned from their wool, hair, and hide. The town dwellers carried on considerable trade through caravans, which plied not only between the townships of Arabia proper, but as far north as Syria, including Palestine, and also to the countries immediately to the east and west of the northern part of the peninsula. There was a certain amount of