XXX P R E L I M I N A R Y
■ died A. H. 241, A . C. 863, aged 77.— He obtained fo high a reputation
for faniftity, that his funeral was attended by a train of 800,000 men and
60,000 women ; and it is aflerted as a kind of miracle, that on the day of
his deceafe no fewer than 20,000 Jews and Chrijlians embraced the
faith.— For about a century after his death, the left of Hanbal were
numerous and even powerful, and uniting to their zeal a large proportion
of fanaticifm, became at length fo turbulent and troublefome as to require
the ftrong arm o f government to keep them in order.— Like moll
other fanatical fects, they dwindled away in procefs of time, and are now to
be met with only in a few parts of Arabia. Although orthodox in their
other tenets, there was one point on which they differed from the reft of
the MuJJulmans; for they aflerted that God had actually fet Mohammed
upon his throne, and conftituted him his fubftitute in the government of
the univerfe; an aflertion which was regarded with horror, as an impious
blafphemy, and which brought them into great difrepute.— This, however,
did not happen until many years after Ib nHanbal’s deceafe, and
is in no degree attributed to him. He publilhed only two works of note,
one intitled the Mofannid, which is faid to contain above 30,000 traditions,
felerited from 750,000 ; and another, a collection of apothegms, or
proverbs, containing many admirable precepts upon the government of
the paflions.— He had feveral eminent fcholars, particularly Ismael Bo-
xharee, and Mooslim Ibn D aood. His authority is but feldom quoted
by any o f the modern commentators on jurifprudence.
F rom the difciples and followers o f thefe four great leaders have proceeded
an immenfe number of commentaries at different times, fome treating
of the civil, fome of the canon, law ; fome comprehending the applications
both o f the Koran and the Sonna, others confined folely to the
former, and others, again, treating purely of the traditions-, but all,differing
on a variety o f points in their conftrudtions, although; coinciding
in their general principles.
T he Mujfulman courts of juftice, when not actuated by any undue
influence,, in. deciding upon caufes confult, firft the K oran, then the
8 traditions.
D I S C O U R S E . xxxi
traditions preferved in thofe collections, which are generally admitted to
be authentic, and, next to thofe, the opinions of their moft approved
civilians. T h e two former lay down the principles, and the commentators
give the application. Without thefe laft indeed, the prefiding ma-
o-iftrates muft be often at a lofs, or muft depend folely on their own
judgment; as it is impoflible, in the infinite variety of human affairs, that
the text of the Koran, or the traditionary precepts of the Prophet,
fhould extend to every particular cafe, or ftrictly fuit all poflible emergencies.
Hence the neceflity o f Mooftees, whofe particular office it is to
expound the law and apply it to cafes. T h e uncertainty of this fcience,,
in its judicial operation, is unhappily proverbial in all countries. In fome,,
which enjoy the advantage of an eftablifhed legiflature, competent at all
times to alter or amend, to make or to revoke laws, as the change o f
manners may require, or incidental occurrences render neceflary, this-
uncertainty arifes pretty much from the unavoidable mutability in the
principles of decifion.— O f the Mujfulman code, on the contrary, the
principles are fixed ; and being intimately and infeparably blended with
the religion of the people, muft remain fo, as long as they fhall endure.
Here, o f courfe, the uncertainty is owing folely to the application of the
principle, which will neceflarily vary according to the different tenets or
judgment of the expofitors. In the Mufulman courts, therefore, the
works of their great commentators are particularly neceflary, both in.
order to give a furer ftahility to property, and alfo, that the magiftrate may
avail himfelf, in his decifions, of the collected wifdom of ages.
T he expofitions of the Muffulinan hew &ve„ in general, of three de-
fcriptions; the firft termed OJool, treating of the fundamental principles
of the law in matters both fpiritual and temporal, as derived from the
K oran,— the fecond Sonnan, treating of the traditions, and of the rules
and precepts of jurifprudence with refpedt to points not touched upon in
the Koran,— and the third Fatdvee, confifting limply of a recital of de-
eifions upon cafes. Under thefe, and a variety of other appellations,
fome thoufands of volumes have appeared at different times. Their authority
is of weight according to the fuppofed merit of the work, or the:
rank