HAREM (Arabic, el-harim, the sanctuary), a term applied to the holy cities, Mecca and Medina, which are jointly called “the harems,” and to the temple of Mecca, which is termed mesjid el-harim, the sacred mosque; but which in its more general use signifies throughout the Mohammedan world the females of a family, and more particularly that part of a dwelling house which is appropriated to their use. It is also commonly used by the Greeks, Armenians, and Jews of the Turkish empire, though the seclusion of their women is not so strict as that of the Mohammedans, and is founded on customs of remote antiquity in the East. Its prevalence among the Mohammedans has been established by the following passage of the Koran: “And speak unto the believing women, that they restrain their eyes,
and preserve their modesty, and discover not
their ornaments, except what necessarily
appeareth thereof; and let them throw their
veils over their bosoms, and not show their
ornaments, unless to their husbands, or their
fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their
sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or unto such men as attend them and have no need of women [eunuchs], or unto children.” The apartments of the women are generally in the upper stories, and so contrived as to secure the utmost privacy. They have commonly a separate entrance, and care is taken to place the windows so that they shall not be seen from the windows of any other house or from the street. In a harem containing several wives, it is usual to assign to them separate suites of apartments. In some places the harem is often superbly furnished and decorated, while the more public part of the dwelling exhibits every sign of poverty. The inmates of the harem consist of a wife or wives and of any number of female slaves, some of whom are kept merely as servants to cook, to clean the rooms, and to wait upon the wives and concubines. It is estimated, however, by the best informed travellers, that only one man in 20 has more than one wife. It is only the very rich that maintain populous harems, and many of these are content with one wife. In frequent instances the wife who will not tolerate a second spouse in the harem will permit the husband to keep concubines for the sake of having them to wait upon her. It is said that Mohammedan women do not dislike the seclusion in which they are kept, but take a pride in it as an evidence of their value. If the husband permits them to be freely seen by other men, they regard his liberality as indicative of indifference. — The Christian travellers most familiar with oriental life have passed very opposite judgments on the nature and effect of the harem system. Lady Mary Montagu, who visited the harems of the great officers of the Turkish empire, has left gorgeous pictures of what she saw. She describes the harems as glittering with splendor and inhabited by lovely girls magnificently attired, leading a gay and happy life. Harriet Martineau, who visited some harems of the higher class in Cairo and Damascus in 1847, gives a very different picture. In a harem at Cairo she found 20 women, some slaves, nearly all young, some good-looking, but none handsome. Some were black, Nubians or Abyssinians, and the rest Circassians with very light complexions. She saw no trace of intellect in these women, except in a homely old one. Their ignorance she describes as fearful, and their grossness as revolting. At Damascus she saw the seven wives of three men in one harem, with a crowd of attendants. Of the seven, two had been the wives of the head of the household, who was dead; three were the wives of his eldest son, aged 22; and the remaining two were the wives of his second son, aged 15. Of