I.

LECTURE in Barbary and the northern states of Africa: they are not known to prevail in any part of India. Of his works, the only one on record is the Muwatta, which contains a review of the most remarkable judgments of the Prophet.

Shafií sect.

The founder of the third sect was Abú Abd-ullah Muhammad Bin Idrís ash-Sháfií. Having descended from Abd-ul-Muttalib, the son of Abd-ul-Munáf, the ancestor of Muhammad, Sháfií had the distinguished honor of being of the same race as the Prophet himself was. It is for this reason that he is known by the surname 'Al-Kureshí al-Muttalibí.' Shafií's doctrines have a limited range amongst the Musalmán inhabitants of the sea-coast of the Peninsula of India; but the chief seats of their authortiy are Egypt and Arabia. His doctrines are said to be of some repute also amongst the Malays and the Muhammadans of the Eastern Archipelego. His followers were at one time very numerous at Khurásán; but at present his doctrine is rarely followed there, or in India, except in some parts of Bombay. His first work was the Usúl or fundamentals, containing all the principles of the Musulmán civil and canon law; his next literary productions were The Sunnán and the Musnad' both of which treated of the traditional law, and which are in high estimation among the orthodox. His works upon practical divinity are various; and those upon theology consist of fourteen volumes.

Mujtahids of the first class were very frequent in the three first centuries of the Hijrah; but in latter times the doctrines of the law becoming more fixed, the exercise of private judgment, to an unlimited extent, soon ceased to be recognised. As a title, the term 'Mujtahid' has long since fallen into disuse amongst the Sunnís.-Morl. Dig., Introd., p. ccxxxvii.

* Imám Muhammad Bin Idrís ash-Sháfií was born at Askalon in Palestine, A. H. 150 (A. C. 772). He was of the same stock with Muhummad,

sect.

I.

Abú Abd-ullah Ahmad ash-Shaibání al-Marwárí, gene- LECTURE rally known by the name of Ibnu Hanbal,' was the founder of the fourth principal sect of the Sunnís. The Hanbals followers of his doctrines, though at one time very numerous, are at present seldom met with, out of the confines of Arabia. He published only two works of note, one entitled the Masnad, which is said to contain above 30,000 traditions, selected from 750,000, and the other, a collection of apothegms or proverbs, containing

and distinguished by the appellation of 'Imám al-Muttlibí, or Kurésh al-Muttlibí,' because of his descent from the Prophet's grandfather Abd-ul Muttalib. He derived his patronymick title, or surname, Sháfií, from his great grandfather, Sháfií Ibnu Suhib. Shafií is reported by the Musulmán writers, to be the most accurate of all the traditionists; and if their accounts be well founded, nature had indeed endowed him with extraordinary talents for excelling in that species of literature. It is said, that at seven years of age he had got the whole Kurán by rote: at ten, he had committed to memory the Muwatta of Málik; and at fifteen he obtained from the college of Mecca the degree of a Muftí, which gave him the privilege of passing decisions on the most difficult cases. He passed the earlier part of his life at Gaza in Palestine (which has occasioned many to think that he was born in that place), and there he completed his education and afterwards removed to Mecca, whence he came to Bagdad A. H. 195, where he gave lectures on the traditions. From Bagdad he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and thence afterwards passed into Egypt, where he met with Málik. It does not appear that he ever returned from that country, but spent the remainder of his life there, dividing his time between the exercises of religion, the instruction of the ignorant, and the composition of his latter works. He died at Cairo A. H. 204 (A., C. 826). Although he was forty-seven years of age before he began to publish, and died at fifty-four, his works are more voluminous than those of any other Mussalmán Doctor. His tomb is still to be seen at Cairo, where the famous Salah-ud-Din afterwards (A. H. 587) founded a college for the preservation of his works and the propagation of his doctrines. The magnificent mosque and college at Herat in Khurásán were also founded for the same purpose, by the Sultán Ghiyás-ud-Din, at the instance of the Shafietes, who at one time were very numerous in the Northern Provinces of Persia. The sect is at present chiefly confined to Egypt and Arabia; and, however highly they may esteem his authority, his decisions in civil and criminal jurisprudence are seldom quoted by the Doctors of Persia or India. He studied jurisprudence under the learned Muslim Bin Khalid, Head Mufti of Mecca, and accomplished himself in the knowledge of traditions from Málik in Egypt. His principal scholars were Hanbal and Zuhari, the former of whom afterwards gave his name to a sect. His reverence for God was such, as that he never was heard to mention His name except in prayer. His manners were mild and ingratiating, and he reprobated all unnecessary moroseness or severity in a teacher, it being a saying of his, that whoever advised his brother tenderly, and in private, did him a service; but that public reproof could only operate as a reproach.'-Vide Hidayah, Prel. Disc., p. xxvii.

LECTURE many admirable precepts upon the government of passion.*

I.

These are the four principal Sunní sects or classes which are called after their founders, Abú Hanífah, Málik Bin Aanas, Sháfií, and Ibnu Hanbal.†

Abú Abd-ullah Sufiyán as-Saurí and Abú Dáúd Sulaimán az-Záhirí are said to have been the founders of two other Sunní sects; they, however, had but few followers; a seventh sect is said to have for its chief the celebrated historian At-Tabrí, but this also did not long survive (a).— Vide Morl. Dig., Introd., ccxxx.

ANNOTATION.

(a). The different sects or classes of the Sunnís, as above stated, do not differ in the Usúl or fundamentals of Muhammadanism, nor in the interpretation and exposition of the Kurán (except very slightly in a few parts thereof), but in what they differ materially from one another are the admission or rejection of particular traditions, Ijmaa, the full, the less, or no, exercise of the Kiyás, and the drawing of legal conclusions.

This learned Imám was born at Bagdad A. H. 164 (A. C. 780), and died A. H. 241 (A. D. 855). He was a pupil of Sháfií. He strennously upheld the opinion that the Kurán was uncreated, and that it had existed from all eternity. Since, however, it happened unfortunately that the Khalifah Al-Mutásim maintained the contrary doctrine, Ibnu Hanbal was greatly persecuted for his persistent opposition to that monarch's favorite belief. It is related in history that no fewer than 8,00,000 men and 60,000 women were present at this Doctor's funeral, and that 20,000 Christians, Jews, and Magians became Muhammadans on the day of his death. Whatever degree of credit may be attached to this extraordinary statement, its mere existence sufficiently attests the astonishing reputation which Ibnu Hanbal had acquired during his life-time, and the veneration in which he was held after his death. Persecution, however, soon thinned the ranks of his followers; and though at one time they were very numerous, the Hanbalís are now seldom to be met with out of the confines of Arabia.- Vide Morl. Dig., Vol., I, Introd., p. ccxxviii.

Of these four chief sects of the Sunnís, the followers of Málik and Ibnu Hanbal may be considered, as the most rigid; whilst those of Shafií may be characterized as holding doctrines most conformable to the spirit of Islam, and the sectaries of Abú Hanífah as maintaining the mildest and most philosophical tenets of all.-Ibid., p. ccxxxiii.

I.

Though the Sunnís are said to be governed by the LECTURE authority of the Ijmaa as well as by that of the Kurán and Hadis including Sunnat, and more or less by the authority of Kiyás (ratiocination), yet there are bodies of people who do not submit to the authority of the Kiyás, and to that of the Ijmaa, unless it be of the Sahabah or companions of the Prophet. These people are denominated 'Muhaddasín' (traditionists), and are commonly called Wah- Wahhábís, hábís after the name of Abd-ul-Wahháb the founder of their sect who lived in the eighteenth century. They reside in Najd or central Arabia, also in southern Arabia, and have their own rulers, whose mandates are decisive in any matter of law when no rule or decision on that point is to be found in the Kurán or in the Hadís. There are Wahhabis also in Sitana and in some parts of India, though in the latter they live generally in disguise. The Wahhábí sect must be said to have been derived from the Sunní sect, inasmuch as Abdul Wahhab and the people of Najd were originally Sunnís, and their doctrines differ only in a few respects from those of the Sunnís.

The founders of the four principal sects of the Sunnís being, as already stated, of different opinions, and broach

*The first ruler of the Wahhábís was Saúd, the second, a disciple and patron of the great Wahháb, and was himself converted to the Wahhabí sect. He was succeeded by his eldest son Abd-ul-Azíz, who was assassined by a fanatic of the Province of Ghílán about 1805 or 1806, and was succeeded by his younger brother Abd-ullah. This ruler was defeated and taken a prisoner to Egypt by Ibrahim Báshah or Páshah, the predecessor of Ismáíl Páshah, and thence he was summoned to Constantinople, and there put to death on his first arrival. His brothers and kinsmen, with the survivors of the old Wahhábí family, and many other chiefs of note, were by order of the Sultán close prisoned in Egypt. Turkí, the son of Abdullah, who had made his escape, eventually re-appeared at Riad, and took possession of the kingdom which he continued to hold without molestation from Egypt or elsewhere, until he was assassined by his cousin Mashárí. Turkí is succeeded by his son Faizal, and Faizal by his eldest son Abdullah who is the present ruler of the Wahhábís in Central Arabia.

F

I.

LECTURE ing, in many respects, separate doctrines, based upon different traditions, or sometimes upon the same traditions differently interpreted, and upon the greater or less exercise Digests of of the Kiyás, Digests of law have been written by a host of learned lawyers, some expounding especially and exclusively the doctrines of a particular sect, and others giving in one and the same work expositions of the doctrines of the different founders and followers of all those sects.

law.

The chief works of this nature that treat generally of the doctrines of the four principal sects of the Sunnís are mentioned by Hájí Khalífah to be the Jámi-ul-Mazáhib, the Majmaa-ul-Khiláfiyát, the Yanábiya-al-Ahkám, the Uyúm, and the Zubdat-ul-Ahkám.*

The Kanz-ud-Dakáïk, by An-Nasafí, is a book of great reputation, principally derived from the Wáfí; and containing questions and decisions according to the doctrines of Abú Hanífáh, Abú Yusuf, Imám Muhammad, Zufar, Sháfií, Málik, and others.

Many commentaries have been written on the last mentioned work: the most famous of them is the Báhr-ur-Ráïk, which may, indeed, almost be said to have superseded its original, at least in India. The Bahr-ur-Ráïk is by Zain-ul-Aabidín Bin Nujaim-ul-Misrí (a).

ANNOTATION.

(a). This author died A. H. 970 (A. C. 1562). Premature death compelled him to leave his work incomplete which was finished

"The only one of these works," says Mr. Morley, "of which I have been able to find a particular description, is the Zubdat-ul-Ahkám, which expounds the practical statutes of the different doctrines of the four Sunní sects, and was written by Siraj-ud-Dín Abú Hafs Umar-ul-Ghaznavi, who was a follower of Abú Hanifah, and died A. H. 773 (A. C. 1371).