which the Arabians proceeded in their firp conqueps, (and in which
they have been imitated by all fucceflive generations of Muffulmans,) and
in the latter, as many of the rules here laid down, with refpect to
fubjugated countries, continue to prevail in.all of that defcription at the
prefent day. T h e nature and end of thofe regulations is fo fully ex-
plained in the text, that they do not require any illuPration or comment
in this place. W e fhall therefore pals on to
Book X. O f F oundlings,
O ne of the earlieft and moll laudable attempts of Mohammed, in the
profécution of his pretended million, was, to correct certain barbarous
pradtices-then prevalent among his countrymen, particularly with refpedt
to infant children, whom it was common for the parents to expofe or put
to death, where they apprehended any inconvenience from the maintenance
of them. T h e prefent book is to be confidered merely as a comment
upon his precepts in this particular, •
Book XI. O f T roves.
Book XII. A bsconding o f Slaves.
Book XIII. O f Missing Persons.
T he rules laid down in thefe books will be found, in general, Pridtly
confonant to natural juPice, and fuch as prevail (or ought to prevail) in
all well-regulated communities.
Book XIV. O f P artnership.
T his book contains a number of fubtle diPindtions with refpedt to pro-
perty, in many of which acute difcrimination feems to be Pudied more than
practical
Ixxi'ii
pradtical utility. Several of them the',reader may indeed be tempted to confi-
der rather as the Icholaftic reveries of an abftradted divine, than as flowing
from an adtive intercourfe with the. world, or didtated by the liberal fpirit
of commerce.— Still, however, it will perhaps be found, that in the mafs
of {peculation much matter is interwoven of a more fubftantial kind.
The Mussulman laws o f property (to afcertain which is one great end
of the prefent work) are in fome inftances defined with contiderable pre-
cifion; and the various fubdivifions it exhibits to us of. reprefentative
wealth, as oppofed to real, gives us an interePing idea of the re'finernent
which, fo many centuries ago, fubfiPed in Mohammedan countries with
refpedt to thofe particulars.
Book X V . O f {pious or charitable) A ppropriations.
I n all Mohammedan countries (and in none more than in Hindostan)
it has been a common pradtice to dedicate lands, houfes, and other fixed as
well as moveable property to the ufe of the poor, or the fupport of religion.
The founding of a molque, the conPrudtion of a refervoir, and even the dig-
ing o f a well, for the public ufe, come all under the fame,head ; and many
noble monuments o f thefe kinds are Pill to be feen in different parts of
India, the ufeful effedts of benevolence or fuperPition, in the more
flouripiing periods of the Mogul empire. That empire has, indeed, long
fince been haPening to decay ; and the monuments of MuJJulman piety or
magnificence have fuffered, with it, a fympathetic dilapidation. Num-
berlefs grants of L and, however, to pious or charitable ufes, have been
executed at different times, of which many are Pill in full force, under
the general title of Aima ;— and thefe muP give fome intereP to the fub-
jedt of the prefent book, in which the various modes of alienation are' dif-
cufl'ed with confiderable accuracy.