rank arid chara&er of the author. Each, however, has its peculiar cha-
rafteriftic, being (generally fpeaking) confined to fome one branch of
jurifprudence^ or receiving, in its conclufions, an unavoidable tinge from
the particular tenets under the. influence of which it was compofed.
T o attempt a diftindl analyfis of the various interpretations contained
in the comments of even the orthodpx writers, would require more time
and labour than the Tranflator has at prefent an opportunity of bellowing
on it. He has indeed to lament that the Ihort Iketch here exhibited,
qf',the grounds and principles of Mohammedan jurifprudence;' is fo
inadequate to the ufefulnefs and curiofity of the fubjedl: but, diffident
o f his own abilities, and indifferently fupplied with the materials which
might enable him to do it juftice, he thinks it better (for the .prefent at
k a il) to wave entering upon a talk in which to fa il would be lefs -ex-
cufable than to be fle n t. Having therefore endeavoured, • as far as the
narrow bounds o f a prefatory eflay wouldadmit, to explain, I. the foundations
of the Mujfulman law, II. the-origin of thofe varieties which at prefent
appear in the expofition of it, and III. the ufe o f commentaries to
direct the praftice,— it is fit that he proceed to give fome account of the
H E D A Y A ,— an account, to'which the preceding detail was a necelfary
introduction.
A E H E D A Y A literally lignifies the guide. There are many Arabic
works on philofophical and theological fubjedts which bear this name.
T h e prefent, intitled H E D A Y A f il FORpo, or the guide in particular
points * , was compofed by Sheikh Burhan-a d -deen A l e e , who was
born at Marghtndn, a city of Maveralne'r, (the ancient Tranfoxania) about
A. H. 530, (A. C. 1152,) and died A. H. 591. As a lawyer,..his^reputation
was beyond that of all his contemporaries. He produced leveral
works upon jurifprudence, which are all confidered as of uoqueftionable
authority,— According to the account which he himfelf gives us in his
exordium, the H E D A Y A is a Sharh or expofition of a work previoufly
* Foroo literally means the branches o f a tree, and is here oppofed to OsooL, fjgnifying the
roots, i. e. the fundamental principles. ■
5 compofed
compofed by him, intitled the Badayat al Moobtidda, an introduction to the
fludy of the law, .written for the ufe of his fcholars, in a ftyle exceedingly
clofe and obfeure, and which (it would appear) required an illuftrative
comment to enable them to comprehend it.— O f the Baddy at al Moobtidda,
the tranflator has not been able to procure any copy. It is, indeed,
moll probably no longer extant, as the prefent more perfpicuous
paraphrafe fuperfeded the neceffity of the text, and rendered it ufelefs.
T he H E D A Y A is an extract from a number of the moll approved works
of the early writers on jurifprudence, digelled into fomething like the
form of a regular treatife, although, in point of arrangement, it is rather
defultory. It poflefles the lingular advantage of. combining, with the
authorities, the different opinions and explications of the principal corn-
mentors on all difputed points, together with the reafons for preferring
any one adjudication in particular; by which means the principles of the
law are-fully difclofed, and we have not only the dictum, but alfo the
moll ample explanation of it. T h e author, being a Moojtahid, was himfelf
qualified to pafs decifions upon cafeS (whether real or fuppofed) which
Ihould operate as a precedent with others. He of confequence, in many
inftances, gives us merely his oswn opinion, without reforting to any other
authority or precedent. In his comments he generally leans to the
doarine of Haneefa, or his principal difciples; and indeed .his work may
in a great meafure be confidered as an abftraa of the Haneefite opinions,
modified by thofe of the more recent teachers, and adapted to the piac-
tice and manners of other countries' and of later times.
T he perfons whofe opinions are chiefly quoted by him, befi.des the
four great L eaders already mentioned, are A boo Y oosaf, Mohammed,
and Z iffer.
Imam ABOO YOOSAF, (alfo known by the appellation o f Y a -
cpob-bin-Ibraheem,) was born at Bagdad, A . H. 113. He ftudied under
Haneefa, and was appointed to the office of Kdzee of Bagdad by Hadee,
the fourth of the Abb'ajjian Khalifs. He was afterwards advanced, by the
fucceflbr