ably necefiary when IJlamifm fpread over regions at a confiderable dif-
tance from Arabia, as it was utterly impoflible for all the f a it h f u l in
remote countries, however other-wife capable, to fulfil this duty in perfon.
— T h e eighth chapter, defcribes the H iddee, or gift-offering lent by deputy
to be facrificed at the temple, as before mentioned. T h e fmalleft
acceptable offering is one goat. In faft, the value of the offering (as may
naturally be fuppofed) is in proportion to the rank, piety, or vanity of the
perfon who makes i t ; and inftanees have been known of one hundred camels,
or more, being immolated in one faerifice before the '■ ‘•HoufeofQod.”
— Some other matters are added, of too trifling a nature to deferve notice.
T his fliort Iketch will fuffice at once to fhew the ufelefs nature of
thefe four books, and, we trull:, to juftify the omiffion of them in the
Englijh tranflation.— W e (hall now proceed to make a few brief remarks
upon the other books, in the order in which they Hand, and Which, for
the convenience of the reader, are numbered according to their fuccef-
fion.
V O L . I.
Book I. O f Z A K A T .
Z A K A T means the alms impofed by the L a w , in oppofition to-
Sadkd, [charity,] which fignifies the voluntary contributions o f individuals,
and which is treated o f at large under the head of gifts.— As.
A lms, in our application of that word, is always ufed to denote fbme-
thing purely gratuitous, the tranflator, in treating of thofe impofed by
the Mujfulman law, has retained the original term, to which the Englifh
language does not afford any expreffion flrictly analogous. Some writers
have confounded Zakat and Sadkci under one common meaning. The-
Arabian commentators, however, make an eflential difference between,
them; for the former is merely an indifpenfable compliance with a legal
obligation, claiming no merit in fu tu r ity , whereas the latter is as much
an impulfe of the mind as an a f t of the hand, and is of courfe entitled to
its.
its reward._The impoft o f Za^at originated with Mohammed himfelf,
who at firft employed the revenue arifmg from-it according to his difcre-
tion, in the fupport of his needy adherents-; but the objects of it were
afterwards afcertained by various paffages in the Koran ; and it is fome-
what remarkable that the Prophet particularly excluded the members of
his own family from any participation: in it, and this in terms which fuf-
ficiently denotes the arrogant fuperiority affurned by the tribe of H a -
shim T o compenfate, however, for this exclufion, he admitted them
to a fifth fhare in that proportion of the fpoil which was allotted to the
public treafui'y. For fome generations after Mohammed this import
was regularly colledted, and faithfully applied to its appointed purpofes.—
In moft Mujfulman territories it continues to be levied at the prefent da y ;
but the original object! of its difburfement have been long fince difre-
o-arded, and what was intended as a relief to the poor is now, even in the
beft regulated governments, carried to the exchequer of the prince, who
endeavours to fatisfy his confcience by, a fort of commutation, in the erection
of mofques, or the fupport of a few indigent and idle Fakeers about
his palace. That which commenced in the indigence or rapacity o f the
fovereign, has now acquired a fort of prefcriptive authority; and the
revenue derived from Zakat is univerfally confidered as the right of the
Rate. It has, indeed,, for feveral centuries part, ceafed to be colle&ed
upon jlaiionary property, the only tax which at prefent bears the-name
of Zakat- being that impofed on goods imparted- in the way of trade, from
one country or diftrict into another, and levied in-the name o f a toll.—
Many of its rules will be found to apply peculiarly to A rabia and
Sy r ia , the countries in which thefe laws originated, and; where fiocks
and herds have ever formed a chief part of the wealth o f the inhabitants-
Although the laws of Zakat have in a great meafure been fuperfeded, or
become obfolete with refpedt to their original deftgn, yet they are worthy
of attention, as incidentally involving many of the laws o f property in
points not immediately connected with this fubject. Under this-head is.
* See his declaration upon. this fubj.e£t, (vol,.I. p, 5->) where the of the metaphors
ufed by him is worthy of remark..
comprehended,
\