VII. 



R£MAKKS Upon the Authorities cf Mosulman 



Law*. 



by j. h. harington, esq. 



X HE basis of Mohummiidan law, religious, civil* 

 and criminal, is the Koran ; believed to be of divine 

 origin, and to have been revealed by an angel to Mo- 

 HUMMUD ; who caused it to be written and published, 

 from time to time, as occasion required, for the refuta- 

 tion of his opponents, or the instruction and guidance 

 of his followers: though the hundred and fourteen Soo- 

 wur, or chapters, which compose the Koran, were not 

 digested, in their present form, until after the death of 

 MoHUMMUD : when they were collected by his imme- 

 diate successor Aboo Bukr; and were afterwards, in 

 the 30th year of the H'ljrah^ transcribed, collated, and 

 promulgated, by order of the Khukefah OT'R'i^i a! t^-\> 



The Koran being thus considered the written v,wd 

 of God, its texts, when clear and applicable, and not 

 abrogated by other texts of subsequent revelation, arc 

 unquestionable and decisive. But, (as remarked by an 

 eminent historian if,) " In all religions the life of the 

 founder supplies the silence of written revelation: the 

 sayings of Mahommet were so many lessons of truth ; 



* These remarks are intended to form part an Analysis of the 

 Laws and Regulations, for the civil government of the £,'i/7j/i ter- 

 ritories, under the Presidency of Bengal. This work is designed 

 for the use of tlie students in the coll'.^ge ofF^-T^ IFdH.'^m ; anr* the 

 second part, which relates to Criminal Jisstice, is introduced by a 

 summary of the MohurDmuJan law of crimes and punishments, fcr 

 the purpole of rendering move intelligible t!)e amendments of it 

 enacted by the Regulations of the G )Vf rnor General in Council. 



t V, Sale's Preliminary Discourse, Section III. 



I In chap.L. of the Decline and Full of the Roman E'lipire,, relative 

 to Arabia. 



