860 



MOHAMMKDAXISM 



through any questionable mean!*, save by buying 

 anil selling, is severely condemned. 



To prevent the faithful from ever falling back 

 into idolatry the laws relating to images mid pic- 

 tures have been mode very stringent. \Vliosoever 

 makes an imitation of any living living, in stone, 

 wood, or any other material, shall on the day of 

 judgment lie askeil to endow his creation with 

 life and soul, and, on his protesting his inability to 

 do so, shall undergo the punishment of hell for a 

 certain jM-riod. The head of law civil and religion* 

 is the Calif. His vicegerent in religion is the Grand 

 Mufti or Sheikh ul Islam, under whom are the 

 whole guild of I'lenift or experts. 



The civil and criminal laws of Mohammedanism, 

 founded both on the Koran and on the Traditions 

 (Sitnna), are in some instances, where the letter of 

 the written or oral precept allows of various explana- 

 tions, or where the cose in question is not foreseen, 

 interpreted according to the opinion of one of the 

 four great masters of Islam Abu Han if a, Malek 

 Ilm Ans, Shufei', Ibn Hnnltal within the. pale of 

 their respective sects. The principal points, how- 

 ever, upon which all Mohammedans agree are the 

 following. Polygamy is allowed. 'Take in mar- 

 riage of the women who please you, two, three, or 

 four ; but if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably, 

 one, or those whom your right hands have ac- 

 quire;! ' i.e. your slaves. Thus four wives, and a 

 certain numlier of concubine slaves, is the extent 

 to which a Moslem may legally go. The Prophet's 

 example proves nothing to the contrary, since he 

 was endowed with special privileges. It is more- 

 over added, as an advice, that to marry one or two 

 is quite sufficient for a man. A Moslem may, if 

 urged by excessive love, or if unable to obtain a 

 wife of iiis own creed, marry a Christian woman or 

 a Jewess, but a Mohammedan woman is not, under 

 any circumstances, to marry an unbeliever. In all 

 cases, however, the child of a Moslem father, what- 

 ever the mother's faith, is a Moslem ; nor does the 

 wife that is an unbeliever inherit at her Imshand's 

 death. A simple declaration of a man and woman 

 at the age of puberty, before two witnesses, of their 

 intention to marry each other, and the pavment of 

 part of the dowry (which is indispensable, and 

 must amount to at least ten dirhems, or about live 

 shillings) is sufficient for a legal marriage. A girl 

 under age is given aw ay by her natural or appointed 

 guardian, with or without her consent. To see the 

 face of any woman who is neither his wife nor his 

 concubine, and who does not )>elong to any of the 

 forbidden degrees, is strictly foi bidden "to the 

 lieliever. Divorce is an easy thing for a Moslem 

 husband. Twice a man may semi away his wife 

 and take her back again without any ceremony : 

 the third time, however, or if he unite the triple 

 divorce in one sentence at once, he dare not receive 

 her again in wedlock until she have been married 

 to another man in the meantime. Mere dislike is 

 sufficient reason for a man to dissolve the conjugal 

 ties, and his saying 'Thou art divorced,' or 'I 

 divorce thee,' together with the payment of part of 

 the wife's dowry, is all that is required from him 

 by the law. A'wife, on the other hand, is Itound to 

 her husband for ever, unless she can prove some 

 flagrant ill-usage or neglect of conjugal duty on 

 his part ; and even then she forfeits part, or the 

 whole, of her dowr> . A woman proving disobedient 

 to her husband may lie declared by the cadi re- 

 bellion*, and the husband is no longer bound to 

 maintain her; but he cannot be forced to divorce 

 her under these circumstances. If a slave become* 

 a mother by her matter, and lie acknowledges the 

 child to be his own, the child is free, and the mother 

 in to be emancipated at the master's death. A free 

 person wishing to marry his or her slave must first 

 emancipate this slave. 



The privilege of primogeniture does not exist in 

 the Mohammedan law, but males generally receive 

 a double share, A person may not l>e<|ncath more 

 than one-third of his property, unless there lie no 

 legal heirs. Children wbether begotten with the 

 legal wife, or slave, or concubine, or only adopted 

 and their descendants are the l'u>t heirs; ne\t 

 come the claims of wives. parents, brothers, sisters, 

 in their order. Where there is no legal heir the 

 property falls to the crown. The law is very 

 lenient towards debtors, the Koran recommending 

 the creditor to remit a debt 'as alms.' Insoh . 

 ami inability to work for the discharge of the claim 

 solve all further obligations. The most conscien- 

 tious performance of all private contracts, however, 

 i~ constantly recommended in the Koran. 



Murder is punishable either with death or by 

 the pavment of a fine to the family of the deceased, 

 according to their own pleasure. There must, how- 

 ever, lie palliating circumstances in the latter case. 

 Unintentional homicide is expiablc by freeing a 

 believer from slavery, and paying to t\ie family a 

 certain sum in pro]>ortion to' the rank and sex of 

 the deceased. He who has not the means of free- 

 ing a lieliever is to fast for two months, by way of 

 penance. According to the strict letter of the law, 

 a man is not liable to capital punishment for kill- 

 ing his own child or an infidel ; but, practically, 

 no difference is generally mode by civilised Mo- 

 hammedan governments in our day : murder is 

 punished with death, and no fine frees the culprit. 



The Mosaic law of retaliation, in case of inten- 

 tional wounds and mutilation, holds good also for 

 Islam; that is (not, as 1ms ignorantly been sup- 

 [Mised, that the corresponding limb of the offender 

 is to be cut off), a certain proportionate fine in 

 money is to be paid to the injured. The payment 

 for any of the single limbs of the human body, 

 such as the nose, is the full price, the same as for 

 a homicide ; for a limb which is found twice, like 

 hand or foot, half; for a finger or toe, the tenth 

 part. Women and slaves have smaller claims. 

 Injuries of a dangerous or otherwise grievous 

 nature pay the full price ; those of an inferior 

 kind bring the perpetrator within reach of the 

 lash or cudgel. 



The Koran orders theft to be punished by cut- 

 ting off the chief offending limb, the right hand ; 

 the second theft is punishable by the loss of the 

 left foot ; the third, of the left hand ; the fourth, 

 of the right foot; hut the ordinary punishments 

 of imprisonment, hard labour, and the bastinado 

 have IH'CII sulistituted in our da\s. Not, however, 

 if the property stolen were of easy access to the 

 thief, nor if it consisted of food, since he may have 

 taken this to satisfy the craving of his hunger. 



I Tichasiity on the part of a woman was, in the 

 commencement of Islam, punished by imprison- 

 ment for life, for which afterwards, however, 

 stoning was substituted in the case of a married 

 woman, and a hundred stripes ami a year's exile 

 in the case of an unmarried free woman ; a slave 

 to undergo only half of that imnishment. Komi- 

 eation in either sex is, by the law of the Koran, to 

 he \isiied with a hundred stripes. 



Infidelity, or apostasy from Islam, is a crime to 

 IM- visited by the deatli of the offender, if he have 

 lieen warned thrice without recanting. Kipially 

 sctere, and not to lie averted by repentance or 

 revocation of any kind, is the punishment indicted 

 for blasphemy against (Iml, Mohammed, Christ, 

 Moses, or any other prophet. 



A further injunction of the Koran, for the carry- 

 ing out of which the time has well-nigh gone bv, 

 is that of making war against the Infidels. He 

 who is slain while lighting in defence and for the 

 propagation of Islam is reckoned a martyr ; while 

 a deserter from the holy war is held up as an 



