Book XL. Compacts o f Cultivation.
Book XLI. Compacts o f Gardening.
T hese boo'ks are of ufe chiefly on account of the regulations with
refpedt to landed property which incidentally occur in them. They exhibit
the farming of lands in a very imperfeQ ftate, and at a time when
money had as yet come little into current ufe. They, however, explain
a number of principles upon this fubjedl equally applicable to all ages.
Book XL II. O f Z abbah.
In the Mohammedan as in the Jewi/h L aw ,' the eating of blood is
ftri&ly forbidden, and hence the various rules and precautions fet | forth
under this head. It appears, from fome . paflages, that the Arabian Prophet
was defirous of inculcating not only a fcrupulous regard to the purity
o f food, but alfo a humane and tender attention to the feelings of the animal
deftroyed for the purpofe of fupplymg 'it.— This laft is indeed a fenti-
ment difcoverable in many parts of his precepts.
Book XLIII. O f Sacrifice.
Sacrifice, whether as a memorial or an expiation, is one o f the
moft ancient religious obfervances which occur in the hiftory of mankind.
T h e particular ceremony which is the fubjeâ of this book, was
inftituted in commemoration of A braham’s obedience to the Divine command
by the intended facrifice of his fon. This foil the Arabian commentators
make to be their great progenitor Ishmael, and not Isaac,
whom they adert to-have been promifed fubfequent to that event. This
conclufion they draw from the manner in which the whole circumftance
is worded m the-thirty-leventh chapter of the Koran, though the paflage
is certainly very equivocal. T h e anniverfary of this rite falling on the
tenth of Zee-al-Hidjeev [the month o f pilgrimage,] it is performed by
pilo-rims in the valley of Minna, and conftitutes- one of the preferibed
ceremonies of pilgrimage. — It is, however, equally enjoined on all
others poflefled of the ability; and may be performed by any man at his
own habitation. The,rules, refpedting it are few and Ample ; and.are, in
fa£1-, of little confequenee in a civ il light, farther .than as they tend to
affedt property. The lame obfervation in a great degree applies to
Book X L IV . O f A bominations,
A subject which involves a vaft variety of frivolous matter, and
mull be confldered chiefly in the light of a treatife upon ■ propriety, and decorum.
In it is particularly exhibited, the fcrupulous attention paid to female
modefty, and the avoidance of every a <9: which may tend to violate
it, even in thought.— It is remarkable, however, that this does not
amount to that abfolute feclufon of women fuppofed by fome writers. In
fa£t, this feclufion is a refuit of jealoujy or pride, and not of any legal
injunction, as appears in this and feveral other parts of the Heddya. Neither
is it a cuftom univerfally prevalent in Mohammedan countries.
Book X L V . Cultivation o f wafe L ands.
In moft Muffuhnan governments, particular encouragement has been
held forth to the reclaiming of barren or deferted grounds, by the powerful
incentive of granting to the cultivator a property in ,tbe foil.— A confi-
derable portion of this book is occupied with difeuffions upon the right to
water, that element being juftly regarded as a moft valuable commodity
in countries where, from the heat of the climate,, the ground is liable,
for the greateft part o f the year, to exceffive drought; and where, of
courfe, the fuccefs of tillage muft chiefly depend upon an artificial fupply
of it.