In moft of the laft mentioned particulars the decifions of the Koran
alfo agree with thofe of the jews. By the law of Mofes adultery,
whether in a* married woman or a virgin betrothed, was punched
with death; and the man who debauched them was to fuffer
the fame punifhment'. The penalty of limple fornication was
fcourging, the general punifhment in cafes where none is particularly
appointed: and a betrothed bond-maid, if convicted of adultery,
underwent the fame punifhment, being exempted from death, be-
caufe Jhe was not free || By the fame law no perfon was to be put
to death on the oath o f one witnefs 3: and a man who llandered his
wife was alfo to be chajiifed, that is fcourged, and fined one hundred
fhekels of filver 4. The method of trying a woman fufpedted of
adultery where evidence was wanting, by forcing her to drink the
bitter water of jealoufy 5, though difufed by the Jews long before
the time of Mohammed6, yet, by reafon of the oath of curling
with which the woman was charged, and to which fhe was obliged
to fay Amen, bears great refemblance to the expedient devifed by
that prophet on the like occafion.
The inftitutions of Mohammed relating to the pollution o f women
during their courfes7, the taking of flaves to wife 8, and the prohibiting
of marriage within certain degrees9, have likewife no fmall
affinity with the inftitutions of Mofes 10; and the parallel might be
carried farther in feveral other particulars.
As to the prohibited degrees it may be obferved, that the pagan
Arabs abftained from marrying their mothers, daughters, and aunts
both on the father’s fide and on the mother’s, and held it a moll
fcandalous thing to marry two lifters, or for a man to take his father’s
wife 11; which laft was notwithftanding too frequently prac-
tifed Iz, and is exprefsly forbidden in the Koran *3.
1 Lev. xx. 10. Deut. xxii. 22. The kind of death to be infli&ed on adulterers in common
cafes being not exprefTed, the Talmudijls generally fuppofe it to bstrangling ; which they think
is defigned where-ever the phrafe Jhall be put to death, or Jhall die the death, is ufed, as they imagine
yfoff/zjg- is by the expreflion bis blood Jhall be upon him: and hence it has been concluded by.
fome, that the woman taken in adultery, mentioned in the gofpel (John viii.) was a betrothed
maideny becaufe fuch a one and her accomplice were plainly ordered to be ftoned (Deut. xxii. 23,
24.) But the ancients feem to have been of a different opinion, and to have underftood ftoning to
be the punifhment of adulterers in general. V. Selden. Ux. Hebr. 1. 3. c. 11, Sc 12. 2 Levit.
x-ix. 20. 3 Deut. xix. 15. xvii. 6, and Numb. xxxv. 30. 4 Deut. xxii. 13, — 19.
5 Numb. v. i i > 8cc. 6 V. Selden. ubi fupr. 1. 3. c. 15. & Leon. Modena, de’ riti Hebraici,
parte 4. c. 6. 7 Kor. -chap. 2. p. 25.. 8 lb. chap. 4. p. 60, and 64, Sec. 9 Chap. 4.
p. 63. 10 See Lev. xv. 24. xviii. 19, and xx. 18. Exod. xxi. 8,— 11. Deut. xxi. io,—-14. Levit.
xviii. and xx. 11 Abulfed. Hift. Gen. al Shahreftani, apud Poc. Spec. p. 321, & 338.
V. Poc.ib. p. 337, See. 13 Chap. 4. p. 63.
Before
• Before I leave the fubjedt of marriages, it may be proper to take
notice of fome peculiar privileges in relation thereto, which were JXnéges
granted by G o d to Mohammed, as he gave out, exclufive of all other of Mobam-
Mojlems. One of them was, that he might lawfully marry as many
wives, and have as many concubines as he pleafed, without being the hws of
confined to any particular number 1 ; and this he pretended to have mlrrlaS=-
been the privilege of the prophets before him. Another was, that
he might alter the turns of his wives, and take fuch o f them to his
bed as he thought fit, without being tied to that order and equality
which others are obliged to obferve 2. A third privilege was, that
no man might marry any of his wives 3, either fuch as he ffiould
divorce during his life-time, or fuch as he ffiould leave widows at,
his death : which laft particular exadtly agrees with what the JewiJh
dodtors have determined concerning the wives of their princes; it
being judged by them to be a thing very indecent, and for that reafon
unlawful, for another to marry either the divorced wife or the
widow of a king 4 ; and Mohammed, it feems, thought an equal
refpedt, at léaft, due to the prophetic, as to.'the regal dignity, and
therefore ordered that his reliâs ffiould pafs. the remainder of their
lives in perpetual widowhood.
The laws of the Koran concerning inheritances are alfo in feveral Of the
refpedts confirmable to thofe of the Jews, though principally de-
figned to aboliffi certain practices o f the pagan Arabs, who ufed to Ces.
treat widows and orphan children with great injuftice, frequently
denying them any Hi are in the inheritance o f their fathers or their
hufbands, on pretence that the fame ought to be diftributed among
thofe only who were able to bear arms, and difpofing of the widows,
even againft their confient, as part of their hufbands pofiëffions 5.
To prevent fuch injuries for the future,, Mohammed ordered that
women ffiould be refpedted, and orphans have no wrong done them;
and in particular that women ffiould not be taken againft their wills,
as by right of inheritance, but ffiould themfelves be entitled to a
diftributive part o f what their parents, hufbands, and near relations
fhould leave behind them, in a certain proportion 6.
The general rule to be obferved in the diftribution of the de-
1 Kor. chap. 33. p. 348, Sec. See alfo chap'. 66, and the notes there. *. Kor. chap. 33.
P- 349. See the notes there. 3 Kor. chap. 33. p. 342, 350. 4 Mifhna, tit. Sanhedr. c. 2.
Sc Gemar. in eund. tit. Maimon. Halachoth Melachim, c. 2. V. Selden. Ux. Hebr. 1. 1. c. 10.
Prid. life of Mah. p* 118. 5 See chap^ 4. p. 60,6 1, & 63, and the notes there. V. etiam
Poc. Spec. p. 337. 6 Kor. chap. 4. ubi fupra.
t ceafed’s