Ixxrxvi - P R E L I M I N A R Y
is the only part of the work in which any thing is mentioned concerning;
forms ^ W r it in g .
I n concluding this ‘fliort review, the Tranflator efteems it his duty to
add, that it is a very imperfect fummary indeed'of the work which is now
prefented to the Public; T h e fubje&s of it would adtnit of a mueh more
ample-difeuftion.— But to enter into a comparative and analytical furvey of
topics fo numerous and important would of itfelf require a large volume;
and the patience of the reader is- perhaps exhaufted. T h e more.partieular
inveftivation of them we lhall therefore leave to his-oWn reflections or
inquiries; and haften to conclude an effay, for the. length of which no other
apology can be offered, than an anxious wiffi to forward the chief end o f
this publication, by throwing fome light upon a fubjeCt dry in.itfelf, and not
without its difficulties, and accommodating it to the perceptions of thofe
whom duty or curiofity may lead to make i t an objeCt of their ftudy.
O f the importance o f a work in which the Tranflator has borne fo
large a ffiare, it may not become him to fay much ; but as the objects of
it are of a public nature, and as it has been brought forward in fome mea-
fure. at the public expence, he feels himfelf called upon to hazard a few
words in vindication of its probable utility.
W ith refpedt to the immediate end propofed by thofe who originally
projected this tranflation, all that is neceffary to be ftated may be refolved
into one fummary argument. While the Mohammedan L aw is allowed
to be the foie ftandard o f criminal, and in a great meafure of civil jurif-
prudence throughout our dominions in India, (and it would perhaps be
neither prudent nor poffible haftily to introduce any other fyftem,) it appears
indifpenfably neceflary that thofe who are to proteCt the rights of
the people, and who are refponfible for the proper adminiftration of public
juftice, ffiould poffefs the means of confulting the principles on which the
decifions
p i s c o u R S e ;. lxxxviidecifions
o f the Mujfiulman courts are founded- This reflection acquires
flill greater weight, w'hen we oonfider how very large a portion of fub-
jeCts under the Britifh government in India are Mohammedans, upon
whofe attachment to their rulers much of the profperity of our Afiatic
empire mult neceflarily depend. '
T he advantages to be derived from a development o f the inffitutes of
Mohammed are, however, not confined to the adminiftration of juftice
in our Afiatic territories. T h e commerce o f G R E A T B R I T A I N
extends to almoft every region where his religion is profefled; and as
this work is a commentary upon the juridical code of the O t t o m
an as well as of the Mogul empire, and is applicable to the cuftoms
and judicial regulations of Cairo, Aleppo, or Gonfiantinople, as well as
of Delhi or Moor]hedabad,— it can fcarcely fail to open a fource of definable
knowledge to the- merchant and the traveller. In a political view,
likewife, it is humbly prefumed that this work will not be found altogether
uninterefting. A t the prefeht eventful period*, when we have feen
new empires fpringing into birth, and the old indignantly throwing off
the long-rivetted chains' o f defpotifm, the grandeft remaining fabric of
Ifiamifm feems haftening to its fall.— In expeding this mighty ruin, we
are naturally led-to inquire upon what principles the fabric was founded,
and to what caütes we are to attribute its,decay.— Some parts of the following
treatife are particularly calculated to affift us in fuch an invefti-
gation; W e may there obferve that, however fagacioufly it might
be formed for the fudden extenfion o f dominion, during an age when,
mankind were involved in the darkeffi gloom o f fuperftition and* ignorance,
the Mujfiulrnan fyftem, civil and religious, is but wretchedly
adapted to the purpofes of public fecurity or private virtue. W e may
obferve^ with fome degree of laudable exultation, its obvious inferiority,,
in every ufeful view, to that excellent fyftem which we profefs, and
which is fo admirably Calculated to promote the temporal good o f mankind,
as well as their eternal happinefs !•