comprehended the Sadka F ittir, or alms given to the poor on the' feftival
o f breaking Lent ; becaufe the payment of thofe is confidered as a divine
ordinance, and the amount (contrary to other defcriptions of Sàdka)
is particularly prefcribed by the l aw .
Z akat is' the only one of the five books upon the Abadât, or fp iri-
tttiil law, retained by the Englijh tranflator. It is therefore immediately
followed by the Maàmilat, or temporal law,— commencing with Marr
ia g e , and ending (properly) with Bequest, the laft temporal aft of
Man , though a ffiort fupplementary book upon Hermaphrodites is added.
■ Book II. O f Marriage.
T he preliminaries to this moll: important of all contracts, as fet forth
in Chap. I. are ftated in terms remarkably fimple. No provifion is made
for the execution of any written engagement; no particular form or ceremony
is prefcribed; but the efficiency o f the whole-is made to depend
merely upon the oral declarations of the parties, before fufficient wit-
nefles. In fad, written engagements were not in common ufe until
dome time after the eftabliffiment of Ifamifn.— -A fedion of this chapter
is occupied throughout with the matrimonial prohibitions and reftridions,
with refped to which the Mohammedan and Levitical law have a clofe
affinity. T h e principal o f thefe reftridions are, that a man ffiall not
marry his relation within the prohibited degrees; that he ffiall not have
more than fou r wives at a time • and that he ffiall not marry, together,
two women related to each other within the prohibited degrees.— T o the
political and fpeculative enquirer the moll curious features in this book
are, the paffages which particularly concern W omen,, as contained in
Chap. II. and III. from which it appears, that the female fex are, among
the Muffulmans, inverted with many perfonal rights,and independent privileges,
fuch as certainly, in fome meafure, compenfate for the various
hard conditions to which law or cuftom has fubjeded the daughters of
I f am. Thefe, as they are fully difcufled in the body of the work, it is
needlefs
needlefs to recapitulate. T h e moll ftrikiug o f them which occurs under
this article is, the liberty allowed to a woman to difpofe o f herfelf in
marriage independent o f her guardians, and the right of option which ftill
remains to one contraded during infancy, after ffie ffiall have attained to
maturity, which the law fixes at a very early age *.. A woman is alfo
entitled to poffefs her dower, or marriage fettlement, as her own exclu-
five property, which ffie may difpofe of by gift, will, or other deed,
altogether independent of her hufband, or of any claims which may
lie againft his eftate.— Chapter VI. exhibits a ftill more extraordinary
regard, in the Muffulman legiflator, for the feelings of the fex, upon a
point of a very delicate nature, and in which he doubtlefs confulted the
peace of the Haram as much as the didates of abftrad equity.— Concerning
this, however, we ffiall leave the text to fpeak for itfelf.
B ook III. O f F o ste rag e -
In a ftate o f fociety where faftidious refinement has not deftroyed
the genuine feelings of the heart, the tie of fofterage is, next to that of
blood, of the ftrongeft and moft lafting nature^— Even in the more
remote parts of our own country the N urse is ftill confidered rather
in the light of an humble- relative than a menial dependent. By
the people o f A sia this idea;, is carried ftill farther ; and the nurffing
is fuppofed to partake of the very nature of her from whofe blood he receives
his earlieft nouriffiment. An affinity is-therefore'created by this
circumftance, which operates to render marriage illegal in the fame manner
as. adual confanguinity. Hence the prohibitions occafioned by fofterage
are_analogous to thofe fet forth in the fecond fedion of the preceding
book,— to which this is a kind of fupplement.
* See Vo]. III. p. 48z.