reel ion, becaufe that is a right of the individual, whence it is that
infants are fubjedt to fazeer, although they be not liable to Hidd.
ThE ftate ° f marriaS® neceflary to induce lapidation, requires that
marriage the whoremonger be of found underftandirig. and mature age, and a
jefits an adul- Mujfulman, free, and who has confummated in a lawful marriage
S o n “ lapi' with a woman at a time when (he alfo is fane, free, adult, and a Muf-
Jltma. This is the definition of Haneefa and Aboo Toofaf. According
to Mohammed and Shafei the Hate of marriage in queftion requires
limply that the whoremonger be free, and a Mujfulman, and one
who has confummated in a lawful marriage with a woman of the
fame defcription. It is to be confidered, however, that fanity of intend!
and maturity of age are conditional to the receiving of punishment,
lince without thefe men are incapable of reading or under-
ftanding the ordinances of the law : and the other requifites, befides
thefe two, are made conditions in order that the fin may appear in its
greateft magnitude, from the confideration of the magnitude of thofe
bleflings under which it is committed, as ingratitude for the bleflings
of Providenceis greateft, and moft atrocious, when thofe bleflings are
enjoyed in the higheft degree; now the particulars aforefaid, namely,
the Mujfulman faith, and freedom, and the enjoyment of a woman
in a lawful marriage, are among the greateft bleflings of life, wherefore
lapidation on account of whoredom is ordained in cafes where all
thefe circumftances exift; and hence lapidation is enjoined when thefe
conditions exift: contrary to the fuperiority derived from the other
gifts of nature or of fortune, fuch as family, learning, capacity, beauty,
and wealth, which are not conditions, becaufe the law has no regard
to thofe circumftances, and alfo, becaufe thofe which have been ftated
are alone fufficient to conftitute the magnitude of the fin of whoredom,
lb as to fubjedt the offender to lapidation, fince, by virtue of
freedom a man is enabled to contract himfelf - . in a lawful marria&g e' 9
and by virtue of a lawful marriage he is enabled lawfully to indulge
his
his carnal appetite, and by fuch indulgence to allay his paflions ; and
by virtue of being a Mujfulman, he .is enabled to marry a MuJJlima,
which fixes and. confirms the belief of the. prohibition of whoredom to
him ; all thefe things, therefore, particularly forbid and inhibit a man
from the commiflion of whoredom; and a fin is great in proportion
to the force of the inhibitions under which it is committed.— The
fedt of Shafei differ from our dodtors with refpedt to that part of the
propofition which aflerts that the profeflion of the Mujfulman faith
is a requifite condition: and there is alfo a record from Aboo Toofaf to
the fame effedt. Their argument is, that in the time of the prophet
a Jew committed whoredom with a Jewefs, and the prophet ordered
them both to be ftoned but to this our dodtors reply that the prophet
palled that lentence in conformity to the Tawreet, or Jewifh
law, which has fince been luperfeded by the Mujfulman law; and
the declaration of the prophet, “ Whofoever is not a true believer
“ fh a ll not be regarded as married*,” is a confirmation of this. The
confummation now mentioned as a condition is underftood in the
conjundtion having taken place lo far as to require the prefcribed ablutions
; and as it, is a condition effential to fuch a marriage as induces
lapidation, that the woman, at the time of confummation, be of the
fame defcription with the man, in the points offanity, maturity!, freedom,
and profeflion of the fa ith, it follows that i f a man were to confummate
with a wife who is an idiot, an infant, a Jlave, or an infidel,
he is not confidered as married in this fenfe, fince on account of thefe
circumftances the advantages of the matrimonial enjoyment are incomplete
; becaufe .a man has a natural averfion to confummate witli
a lunatick woman; and he can have but little gratification with one
under age, where defire is not reciprocal; and in the fame manner,
he has not a ftrong defire to confummate with a Jlave', as in that cafe
his children are fiave-born ; and lo alfo, the enjoyment of a wife who is
an infidel affords the lefs fatisfadtion, becaufe of the difference of reli-
* Arab. Mahfan j that is, married, under the circumftances requifite to induce lapidation.
gious