Cafe of a vow
again ft fafi-
ing fo r a day.
Cafe of a vow
againft pray-
If a man make a vow that “ he will not faft a day," and he afterwards
intend a faft, and obferve the fame for a few hours (for inftance)
and then break his faft, he is not forfworn, becaufe he intended fuch
a faft as is regarded in the l.aw , and that is not completed until it be
accomplilhed by the ending of the day: moreover, the full time of a
Jay is exprefsly mentioned in his words, “ I will not faft a day," and
therefore it is to be fo underftood.
I f a man make a vow that “ he will not pray,” and he fhould
after that Hand up and perform Kiradt, [reading the Koran,'] or Rookoo,
[a fubmiffive pofture ufed in prayer,] he is not forfworn: but if he
perform the Soojda along with thofe other ceremonies, he is forfworn.
This proceeds upon a favourable conftruftion.— T h e fugge'ftion of
analogy is that he would be forfworn in confequence of beginning'to
pray, from the correfpondence of this with a cafe of falling; that is,
i f a man make a vow that “ he will not faft,” and he Ihould afterwards
keep a religious faft, he would be forfworn upon the commencement
of it; and fo alfo in the prefent cafe. T h e realon of this is that
a perlon, upon beginning, to pray, is termed a• Moofillee, os praying
perlbn, in the fame manner as one beginning a religious-folk is a termed
Sdyim,. or fa ß e r : but the reafon for a more favourable conftruftion
is that prayer implies and includes a variety of ceremonies, fuch as
Jlanding, kneeling, andproßration ;— and hence, until the whole of thefe
be performed, it is not'termed grayer: contrary to fafling, as that con-
fifts of only one Angle observance, namely, abflinence.
If a man vow that “ he will not perform prayer according to the
iL ordinance of the l aw ,” he. will not be forfworn upon praying,
until he come to that: part of the ceremony which requires the fecond
genufledtion; becaufe, by the above mode of expreffion, he appears to
mean that kind of prayer which is regarded in the l aw ; and the
fmalleft degree which conftitutes that is two genufteftions, as the
prophet has forbidden Jhort or interrupted prayer.
4 C H A P .
C H A P . XI.-
Of Vows refpefting Clothing and Ornaments.
f a man make a vow, laying to his wife 6i i f I put on any o f yotir
work, (that is, cloth made o f thread ofyour fpinnmg,) fuch cloth is"
Hiddee, (that is, an offering at the fhrine o f the prophetf) ’ ’ arid that
man Ihould afterwards buy cotton, and his wife fpin it into thread,
and of that thread cloth be woven, and the man put on the lame, it is
incumbent upon him (according to Haneefa) to make an offering
thereof at Mecca. T h e two difciples have aflerted that it is not incumbent
upon the vower, in the cafe in queftion, to make an offering
of his cloth, unlqfs where the thread has-been fpun of cotton which
was his [the vower’ s] property at the time o f his making the vow ;
for they contend that a Noozr,. or devoting vow, is not valid, unlefs it
relpedt adtual property,, or be pronounced in a way which has reference
to the caufe of a-right of property;, and neither of' thefe are ex--
iftent in this cafe, as the vower putting on the cloth, or the woman
(pinning the thread o f which it is compofed, are not caufes o f a right
of property to the vower.— T h e argument, of Haneefa is that it is. cuf-
tomary fora wife to fpin her hulband’s cotton, and whatever is cuf-
tomary, the fame is meant and intended; and the aft of.the wife, in
lpinning the cloth, is a caufe o f the hulband’s right in it* ; here there-
* According to the Mujfulman law, any change wrought in the deferiptive quality of
goods (fuch as turning cotton into thread) caufes in itfelf a transfer o f the property from the
former proprietor to the perfon who makes or-effh& fuch change in it, independant of any
previous contrat' o f purchafe, the perfon to whom fuch transfer o f property is made remaining
refponfible to the-original proprietorfdr the value of the goods in their firmer ftate.
(oee UJurpation of Property,)
Vow of a huf-
band againft
wearing cloth
of his wife’s
manufacture.
fore