It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty of pleasing all.  His relations to the feminine sex, as may be expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women.  Hence the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam.  Although he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating.  Divorce was made easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so desired.  Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce.  The evil of such a system is apparent.  It makes the women mere slaves at the mercy of the caprice of their husbands.  The polygamy and concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some authorities contend, abolished other evils.  It is true that he improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem.  It is encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them.  In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading.  The religion of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed.  The only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the influence of Christianity.  It cannot be possible to enjoy the blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive religion of the East.

Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death.  He had made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final charge to his followers.  The whole tone of his address seems to have been influenced by the thought of the proximity of death.  He emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality.  The rich man was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his ancestry, no more important in the sight of God than the lowliest beggar.  The only difference that could exist between man and man was a difference in degree of piety.  Property rights he recognised as regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed no such rights.  He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and