'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎60r] (124/470)

APPENDIX I.
Table op References.
Throughout Maps T.C. 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, and 258.
Shamiyah monthly diaries and reports.
Para.
1. SC. R/9 of 5th July from P.O. Shamiyah.
“ Euphrates Channels ” (Arab Bureau), Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Gazetteer, Appendices I., II., II.
and IV.
2. Mr. Carbett’s Revenue Note on Shamiyah, Mr. Forbes’s Note on Land Law, 3/1/447 from
P.O. Shamiyah.
3. 8/7/547, S.L.8/6 from P.O. Shamiyah, Note on Irrigation in Mesopotamia by Lieut. Bowers.
Report of Conference at Hillah on 5th February 1918, No. A/205/2679 from D.D.T.,
Euphrates.
4. Report on Shamiyah Rice Crop from P.O. Shamiyah.
5. S. 40/1/381 and S. 40/4/622 from P.O. Shamiyah.
6. S. 11/2/294 and S. 11/2/554 from P.O. Shamiyah.
7.
8 .
9 & 10. 472/10/4 and Shamiyah Shabanah Reports.
11 .
12. Mr. Thaddeus’s reports on the Oudh Bequest.
APPENDIX II.
Note on the Shi‘ah Mujtahid.
The Shi‘ah Mujtahid is he who has the power of promulgating an ijtihad, that is, a religious order.
This is the essential difference between the Sunni and Shi‘ah forms of Muhammadanism. The former
follow the interpretation of the Muhammadan laws laid down by the four original founders of the
four sects of Sunni Islam, that is by Hambali, Shafai, Hanafi and Malaki. These are immutably. The
Shi‘ah, on the other hand, follow the laws of the Quran as interpreted by the Imams, and these laws
again, or, rather, some of them, may be interpreted or modified by the Mujtahids as they think fit.
They, however, seldom exercise this privilege.
For instance, Shafai states that tobacco is haram, and to this day the Shafais do not smoke. But
there is no mention of tobacco in the Quran; there is, therefore, no prohibition to Shi‘ahs smoking.
But when the Persian Government gave the tobacco monopoly to a Russian Company, Mirza Hasan
Shirazi, the great Mujtahid of his time, issued a Fatwah forbidding the use of tobacco by the Shi‘ahs
on the ground that it was haram to have given the monopoly to non-Muslims. This Fatwah was
obeyed and resulted in the Persian Government cancelling the monopoly and compensating the Russian
company. The Fatwah was then withdrawn. No Sunni divine could have done this. Again, as
regards alcohol, there are many instances where Mujtihids have given Fatwahs permitting its use for
sick persons for whom there was no other cure.
The Shi‘ah Mujtahid may interpret the law. The Sunni may only follow slavishly the law as it
has been interpreted for him.
Theoretically Mujtahids are only of one grade, but, actually, they fall into three recognised classes,
in accordance with the influence they possess and the numbers who follow them.
A Mujtahid can only obtain recognition as such by certificates from the greatest Mujtahids of
his time that he is a Mujtahid, that he is capable of giving the Fatwah. This is usually the result of
anything up to 25 years’study in Najaf, and Najaf only, under the great Mujtahids. During this time
his character must have been exemplary. Solitude is a necessity for the acquisition of such a character,
and it therefore follows automatically that no man of good family ever becomes a Mujtahid.
The next step of the certificated Mujtahid is on the death of a great Mujtahid to gather round
himself learned men and to send them out to various parts of the world to preach his fame. His
influence, if he is lucky, gathers in volume like a snowball, until finally he is recognised by universal
acclamation as one of the great Mujtahids.
There are a certain number of religious learned Shi‘ahs, commonly, but wrongly, known as
Mujtahids. They are properly “ Muttadaiyin ” or pious men, fit to receive charity and to settle minor
sharah cases but not to decide (^^).
The great Mujtahids to-day are Saiyid Kadhim Yazdi of Najaf; Mirza Muhammad Taqi Shirazi
• of Samarra, now in Karbala ; Saiyid Ism‘ail Sadr of Karbala, now in Kadhimain; and Shaikh Shari‘at
al Isfahani of Najaf.
They are addressed as—
“ Hujjat al Islam wa mushmin, ayatullah fil ‘alimin.”
The second class are such as Shaikh ‘Ali al Shaikh Muhd. Ridha, Shaikh ‘All Hulli. They are
known as—
“ Hujjat al Islam wa muslimin.”
The third class are “ Muttadaiyin,” such as Shaikh Mahdi Kashmiri, addressed as—
“ Dhiqat al Islam.”
X IO 1162—1
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