'A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations' [‎40r] (84/1826)

DISSERTATION.
of salt; which, making a sudden explosion, terri
fied them often into a sudden discovery of the truth.
Over a fire they used also to make treaties and
other solemn agreements.—After Muhammad had
established his prophetic character, causes appear
to have been determined only by him and his
chief companions; and their decrees were some
times strikingly decisive. A Muhammadan being
cast in a suit with a Jew before the tribunal of the
prophet, appealed to Omar, who happened to be
standing at his door when the parties appeared.
After listening to the merits with great composure,
he bid him wait a little, and he would soon settle
the whole affair. He then went into his house,
and returning instantly with a sword, struck off the
Muhammadan's head: “Thus,” says he, “ought
“ all to be punished, who acquiesce not in the
“ sentence of the prophet of God.” 117
I found a decision of All in the imperfect ma
nuscript formerly mentioned, which seems inge
nious, and shows, at the same time, something of
the manners of the people in those times. Two
Arabians sat down to dinner : one had five loaves,
the other three. A stranger passing by, desired
permission to eat with them, w r hich they agreed to.
The stranger dined, laid dow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. r n eight pieces of
money, and departed. The proprietor of the five
loaves took up five pieces, and left three for the
other ; who objected, and insisted for one-half.
The cause came before AH, who gave the follow
ing judgment: “Let the owner of the five loaves
“ have seven pieces of money, and the owner of
“ the three loaves, one : for if we divide the eight
“ loaves by three, they make twenty-four parts ;
“ of which he who laid down five loaves, had
“ fifteen; whilst he who laid down three, had
“ only nine; as all fared alike, and eight shares
“ was each man’s proportion, the stranger ate
“ seven parts of the first man’s property, and
“ only one belonging to the other : the money, in
“ justice, must be divided accordingly.”—In after
times, in the various Muhammadan states, the
law appears, however, to have been strangely per
verted, and the satirists are, in consequence, un
commonly severe. “ Formerly,” says a poet, “ the
“ judges were naked swords, and the guilty only
“ trembled ; now they are empty sheaths, and
« gorge themselves with the plunder of their
“ suitors.”—“Are you indigent,” says another;
“ and have you the misfortune to be at law with
“ the rich ? withdraw your suit, go to your pow-
“ erful oppressor, and humble yourself in the
“ dust: there you may, perhaps, meet with jus-
“ tice and mercy: with the cazl you can have
“ none.” And, in fact, no censure appears ever
to have been more justly grounded ; for in the
Eastern languages, there are not only words signi
fying bribes to judges ; but others, which denote
men whose public and professed employment was,
the corrupting of magistrates, to procure decisions
contrary to equity and law. We may form indeed
a judgment of the general administration, or ra
ther perversion of justice, under some of the Ca
liphs, from an appointment of Muktadir, who,
about the beginning of the tenth century, pro
moted a young damsel, named Yamlka, to be pre
sident of the Dm'arm*l mazalim, one of the prin
cipal tribunals of the empire, which took cogni
zance of the tyranny and oppression of governors
and other great men. 118
The following curious anecdote is told, in the
Nigaristan, of a famous lawyer of Bagdad, called
Abu Yusuf. It marks several peculiarities in the
Muhammadan law, and displays some casuistical
ingenuity in adapting them to the views of his
clients. The Caliph Harun Arrashld had taken a
fancy for a female slave belonging to his brother
Ibrahim ; he offered to purchase her, but Ibra
him, though willing to oblige his sovereign, had
sworn that he would neither sell nor give her
away. As all parties wished to remove this diffi
culty, Abu Yusuf was consulted, who advised
Ibrahim to give his brother one half of the slave,
and to sell him the other. Happy to be relieved
from this embarrassment, the Caliph ordered
30,000 dinars for the moiety of the slave ; which
Ibrahim, as a mark of his acknowledgment, im
mediately presented to the lawyer. But a second