same decision was given in both cases, which became a law for the future, to wit, that they should part alike. The fifth part, directed by the Korân to be taken out of the spoil before it be divided among the captors, is declared to belong to God, and to the apostle, and his kindred, and the orphans, and the poor, and the traveller:1 which words are variously understood. Al Shafei was of opinion that the whole ought to be divided into five parts; the first, which he called God's part, to go to the treasury, and be employed in building and repairing fortresses, bridges, and other public works, and in paying salaries to magis trates, civil officers, professors of learning, ministers of public worship, &c.: the second part to be distributed among the kindred of Mohammed, that is, the descendants of his grandfather Håsham, and of his great uncle al Motalleb, as well the rich as the poor, the children as the adult, the women as the men; observing only to give a female but half the share of a male: the third part to go to the orphans: the fourth part to the poor, who have not wherewithal to maintain themselves the year round, and are not able to get their livelihood: and the fifth part to travellers, who are in want on the road, notwithstanding they may be rich men in their own country. According to Malec Ebn Ans, the whole is at the disposition of the Imam or prince, who may distribute the same at his own discretion, where he sees most need. Abu'l Aliya went according to the letter of the Korân, and declared his opinion to be that the whole should be divided into six parts, and that God's part should be applied to the service of the Caaba: while others suppose God's part and the apostle's to be one and the same. Abu Hanifa thought that the share of Mohammed and his kindred sank at that prophet's death, since which the whole ought to be divided among the orphans, the poor, and the traveller. Some insist that the kindred of Mohammed entitled to a share of the spoils are the posterity of Hashem only; but those who think the descendants of his brother al Motalleb have also a right to a distributive part allege a tradition in their favour, purporting that Mohammed himself divided the share belonging to his relations among both families, and when Othmân Ebn Assân and Jobeir Ebn Matám (who were descended from Abdshams and Nawfal, the other brothers of Hashem), told him, that, though they disputed not the preference of the Hashemites, they could not help taking it ill to see such difference made between the family of al Motalleb and themselves, who were related to him in an equal degree, and yet had no part in the distribution, the prophet replied, that the descendants of al Motalleb had forsaken him neither in the time of ignorance, nor since the revelation of Islam; and joined hi fingers together in token of the strict union between them and the Hâsheinites. Some exclude none of the tribe of Koreish from receiving a part in the division of the spoil, and make no distinction between the poor and the rich; though, according to the more reasonable opinion, such of them as are poor only are intended by the text of the Korân, as is agreed in the case of the stranger; and others go so far as to assert that the whole fifth commanded to be reserved belongs to them only, and that the orphans, and the poor, and the traveller, are to be understood of such as are of that tribe. It must be observed, that immoveable possessions, as lands, &c., taken in war, are subject to the same laws as the moveable; excepting only, that the fifth part of the former is not actually divided, but the income and profits thereof, or of the price thereof, if sold, are applied to public and descended from this latter. • Idem. • Idem. 1 Korân, c. 8. "Note, al Shâfei himself was Vide Reland. de Jure Milit. Moham. p. 42, &.c. • Idem. • Idem. Al Beid. • Idem. pious uses, and distributed once a year, and that the prince may either take the fifth part of the land itself, or of the fifth part of the income and roduce of the whole, as he shall make his election. SECTION VII. OF THE MONTHS COMMANDED BY THE KORAN TO BE KEPT SACRED; AND OF THE SETTING APART OF FRIDAY FOR THE ESPECIAL SERVICE of god. It was a custom among the ancient Arabs to observe four months in the year as sacred, during which they held it unlawful to wage war, and took off the heads from their spears, ceasing from incursions and other hostilities. During those months, whoever was in fear of his enemy lived in full security; so that if a man met the murderer of his father or his brother, he durst not offer him any violence:1 a great argument, says a learned writer, of a humane disposition in that nation; who being, by reason of the inde. pendent governments of their several tribes, and for the preservation of their just rights, exposed to frequent quarrels with one another, had yet learned to cool their inflamed breasts with moderation, and restrain the rage of war by stated times of truce. This institution obtained among all the Arabian tribes, except only those of Tay and Khatháam, and some of the descendants of al Hareth Ebn Caab (who distinguished no time or place as sacred), and was so religiously observed, that there are but few instances in history (four, say some, six, say others), of its being transgressed; the wars which were carried on without regard thereto being therefore termed impious. One of those instances was in the war between the tribes of Koreish and Kais Ailân, wherein Mohammed himself served under his uncles, being then fourteen, or, as others say, twenty years old. The months which the Arabs held sacred were al Moharram, Rajeb, Dhu'lkaada, and Dhu'lhajja; the first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the twelfth in the year." Dhu'lhajja being the month wherein they performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, not only that month, but also the preceding and the following were for that reason kept inviolable, that every one might safely and without interruption pass and repass to and from the festival.' Rajeb is said to have been more strictly observed than any of the other three, probably because in that month the pagan Arabs used to fast;1 Ramadan, which was afterwards set apart by Mohammed for that purpose, Al Mogholtaï. Al Kaswîni, apud Golium in notis ad Alfrag. p. 4, &c. Al Shahrestâni, apud Poc. Spec. p. 311. Al Jawhari, al Firauzab. Golius, ubi sup. p. 5. Al Shahrestâni ubi sup. See before, p. 87. Abulfedâ, Vit. Moh. p. 11 Al Kodâï, al Firauz. apud Poc. Spec. p. 174. Al Mogholtaï mentions both opinions 'Mr. Bayle (Dict. Hist. et Crit. Art. la Mecque, Rem. F.) accuses Dr. Prideaux of an inconsistency, for saying in one place (Life of Moh. p. 64), that these sacred months were the first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the twelfth, and intimating in another place (ib. p. 89), that three of them were contiguous. But this must be mere absence of mind in Mr. Bayle for are not the eleventh, the twelfth, and the first months contiguous? The two learned professors, Golius and Reland, have also made a small slip in speaking of these sacred months, which, they tell us, are the two first and the two last in the year. Vide Goli and Lex. Arab. col. 601, et Reland. de Jure Milit. Mohammedanor. p. 5. : Gol. in Alfrag p. 9. • Vide ibid. p. 6. 'Al Makrîzi, apud Poc. ubi sup. • Vido being in the time of ignorance dedicated to drinking in excess. By reason of the profound peace and security enjoyed in this month, one part of the provisions brought by the caravans of purveyors annually set out by the Koreish for the supply of Mecca3 was distributed among the people; the other part being, for the like reason, distributed at the pilgriinage.* The observance of the aforesaid months seemed so reasonable to Mohammed, that it met with his approbation; and the same is accordingly confirmed and enforced by several passages of the Korân, which forbid war to be waged during those months against such as acknowledge them to be sacred, but grant, at the same time, full permission to attack those who make no such distinction, in the sacred months as well as in the profane.R One practice, however, of the Arabs, in relation to these sacred months, Mohammed thought proper to reform: for some of them, weary of sitting quiet for three months together, and eager to make their accustomed incur. sions for plunder, used, by way of expedient, whenever it suited their inclinations or conveniency, to put off the observing of al Moharram to the following month Safar, thereby avoiding to keep the former, which they supposed it lawful for them to profane, provided they sanctified another month in lieu of it, and gave public notice thereof at the preceding pilgrimage. This transferring the observation of a sacred month to a profane month is what is truly meant by the Arabic word al Nasî, and is absolutely condemned, and declared to be an impious innovation, in a passage of the Korân3 which Dr. Prideaux, misled by Golius,' imagines to relate to the prolonging of the year, by adding an intercalary month thereto. It is true, the Arabs, who imitated the Jews in their manner of computing by lunar years, had also learned their method of reducing them to solar years, by intercalating a month sometimes in the third, and sometimes in the second year; by which means they fixed the pilgrimage of Mecca (contrary to the original institution) to a certain season of the year, viz., to autumn, as most convenient for the pilgrimns, by reason of the temperateness of the weather and the plenty of provisions; and it is also true that Mohammed forbade such intercalation by a passage in the same chapter of the Korân: but then it is not the passage abovementioned, which prohibits a different thing, but one a little before it, wherein the number of months in the year, according to the ordinance of God, is declared to be twelve;' whereas if the intercalation of a month were allowed, every third or second year would consist of thirteen, contrary to God's appointment. The setting apart of one day in the week for the more peculiar attendance on God's worship, so strictly required by the Jewish and Christian religions, appeared to Mohammed to be so proper an institution, that he could not but imitate the professors thereof in that particular; though for the sake of distinction, he might think himself obliged to order his followers to observe a different day from either. Several reasons are given why the sixth day of the week was pitched on for this purpose: but Mohammed seems to have preferred that day, chiefly because it was the day on which the people used to be assembled long before his time, though such assemblies were had, perhaps, rather on a civil than a religious account. However it 3. 106. • See Korân, Chap. 9, c. 2, p. 23. c. 4, p. 81, See the notes to c. 9, ubi sup. 2 See Prid. • Al Makrîzi, apud Poc. ubi sup. et Auctor Neshk al Azhâr, ibid. c. 5, p. 95, &c. Chap. 9, ibid. See c. 63, and the notes In Alfrag. p. 12. there. • Al Beidâwi. be, the Mohammedan writers bestow very extraordinary encomiums on this day, calling it the prince of days, and the most excellent day on which the sun rises; pretending also that it will be the day whereon the last judg ment will be solemnized: and they esteem it a peculiar honour to Islam, that God has been pleased to appoint this day to be the feast-day of the Moslems, and granted them the advantage of having first observed it 10 Though the Mohammedans do not think themselves bound to keep their day of public worship so holy as the Jews and Christians are certainly obliged to keep theirs, there being a permission, as is generally supposed, in the Korân, allowing them to return to their employments or diversion after divine service is over; yet the most devout disapprove the applying of any part of that day to worldly affairs, and require it to be wholly dedicated to the business of the life to come.' Since I have mentioned the Mohammedan weekly feast, I beg leave just to take notice of their two Beirâms, or principal annual feasts. The first of them is called, in Arabic, Id al fetr, i. e. The feast of breaking the fast, and begins the first of Shawâl, immediately succeeding the fast of Ramadân; and the other is called Id al korbân, or Id al adhâ, i. e. The feast of the sacrifice, and begins on the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, when the victims are slain at the pilgrimage of Mecca. The former of these feasts is properly the lesser Beirâm, and the latter the greater Beirâm: but the vulgar, and most authors who have written of the Mohammedan affairs, exchange the epithets, and call that which follows Ramadân the greater Beirâm, because it is observed in an extraordinary manner, and kept for three days together at Constantinople and in other parts of Turkey, and in Persia for five or six days, by the common people at least, with great demonstrations of public joy, to make themselves amends, as it were, for the mortification of the preceding month; whereas the feast of sacrifices, though it be also kept for three days, and the first of them be the most solemn day of the pilgrimage, the principal act of devotion among the Mohammedans, is taken much less notice of by the generality of people, who are not struck therewith because the ceremonies with which the same is observed are performed at Mecca, the only scene of that solemnity. SECTION VIII. OF THE PRINCIPAL SECTS AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS; AND OF THOSE WHO HAVE PRETENDED TO PROPHECY AMONG THE ARABS, IN OR SINCE THE TIME OF MOHAMMED. BEFORE We take a view of the sects of the Mohammedans, it will be necessary to say something of the two sciences by which all disputed questions among them are determined, viz. their Scholastic and Practical Divinity. Their scholastic divinity is a mongrel science, consisting of logical, meta. physical, theological, and philosophical disquisitions, and built on principles and methods of reasoning very different from what are used by those who Ebn al Athîr, et al Ghazâli, apud Poc. Spec. p. 317. • Iidem. • Al Ghazâli ibid. 10 Chap. 63, ubi sup. Al Ghazali, ubi sup. p. 318. The word Beirâm Turkish, and properly signifies a feast-day or holiday. See chap. 9, and before, sect. iv. p. 86. • Vide Reland. de Rel. Moham. p. 109, et D'Herbel. Bibl Orient. Art. Beirâm. Hvde, in notis ad Bobov. p. 16. Chardin, Voy. de Perse, tom. ii. p. 450. Ricaut's State of the Ottoman Empire, lib. ii. c. 24, &c. • Vide Chardin, et Ricaut, ubi suv pass among the Mohammedans themselves for the sounder divines or more able philosophers, and therefore in the partition of the sciences this is generally left out, as unworthy a place among them. The learned Maimonides has laboured to expose the principles and systerns of the scholastic divines, as frequently repugnant to the nature of the world and the order of the creation, and intolerably absurd. This art of handling religious disputes was not known in the infancy of Mohammedism, but was brought in when sects sprang up, and articles of religion began to be called in question, and was at first made use of to defend the truth of those articles against innovators;' and while it keeps within those bounds is allowed to be a commendable study, being necessary for the defence of the faith: but when it proceeds farther, out of an itch of disputation, it is judged worthy of censure. This is the opinion of al Ghazâli, who observes a medium between those who have too high a value for this science, and those who absolutely reject it. Among the latter was al Shâfei, who declared that, in his judgment, if any man employed his time that way, he deserved to be fixed to a stake, and carried about through all the Arab tribes, with the following proclama. tion to be made before him: This is the reward of him who, leaving the Korân and the Sonna, applied himself to the study of scholastic divinity. Al Ghazali, on the other hand, thinks that as it was introduced by the invasion of heresies, it is necessary to be retained in order to quell them: but then in the person who studies this science he requires three things, diligence, acuteness of judgment, and probity of manners; and is by no means for suffering the same to be publicly explained. This science, therefore, among the Mohammedans, is the art of controversy, by which they discuss points of faith, concerning the essence and attributes of God, and the conditions of all possible things, either in respect to their creation, or final restoration, according to the rules of the religion of Islam. The other science is practical divinity or jurisprudence, and is the knowledge of the decisions of the law which regard practice, gathered from distinct proofs. Al Ghazali declares that he had much the same opinion of this science as of the former, its original being owing to the corruption of religion and morality; and therefore judged both sciences to be necessary not in them. selves, but by accident only, to curb the irregular imaginations and passions of mankind (as guards become necessary in the highways by reason of robbers); the end of the first being the suppressing of heresies, and of the other the decision of legal controversies, for the quiet and peaceable living of mankind in this world, and for the preserving the rule by which the magistrate may prevent one man from injuring another, by declaring what is lawful and what is unlawful, by determining the satisfaction to be given, or punishment to be inflicted, and by regulating other outward actions; and not only so, but to decide of religion itself and its conditions, so far as relates to the profession made by the mouth, it not being the business of the civilian to inquire into the heart: the depravity of men's manners, however, has made this knowledge of the laws so very requisite, that it is usually called the science by way of excelleuce, nor is any man reckoned earned who has not applied himself thereto." Al Poc. Spec. p. 196. • Apud Ebn Sina, in Libello de Divisione Scientiar. et Nasi- More Nevoch. lib. i. c. 71, et 73. |