The Hedaya, or Guide
A Commentary on the Mussulman Laws

This 1791 four-volume English translation of a key text of Islamic law illuminates the East India Company's legal provision.

Charles Hamilton (Translated by), Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani (Author)

9781108055376, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 February 2013

624 pages
29.7 x 21 x 3.2 cm, 1.47 kg

Composed in the twelfth century by the leading Muslim jurist Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani (1135–97), the original Arabic al-Hid?yah remains a central text of Islamic personal law. This English translation, from a Persian version of the work, was prepared by the orientalist Charles Hamilton (c.1752–92) for the East India Company in 1791. Although since superseded, it remains a fascinating document in the history of colonial jurisprudence. The legal system was central to the entrenchment of British rule in India, providing the framework for active control of civil administration and the courts. Translations of Islamic texts were intended to remove the language barrier for colonial officials, and blurred British and native law for the first time. Volume 3 contains sections on agency, claims, laws of business, deposits, loans, gifts, the hiring of slaves, freed slaves, and disputed land sales.

Part XXIII. Of Agency: 1. Introductory
2. Of agency for purchase and sale
3. Of agents for litigation and for seizin
4. Of the dismission of agents
Part XXIV. Of Dawee, or Claims: 1. Introductory
2. Of oaths
3. Of tahalif
4. Of things claimed by two plaintiffs
5. Of claims of parentage
Part XXV. Of Ikrar, or Acknowledgments: 1. Introductory
2. Of exceptions
3. Of acknowledgments made by sick persons
Part XXVI. Of Soohl, or Compositions: 1. Introductory
2. Of gratuitous or voluntary compositions
3. Of compositions for debts
Part XXVII. Of Mozaribat: 1. Introductory
2. Of a manger entering into a contract with another
3. Of the dismission of a manager
4. Of such acts, as may be lawfully performed by a manager
5. Of disputes between the proprietor of the stock and the manager
Part XXVIII. Of Widda, or Deposits
Part XXIX. Of Areeat, or Loans
Part XXX. Of Hibba, or Gifts: 1. Introductory
2. Of retraction of gifts
Part XXXI. Of Ijara, or Hire: 1. Introductory
2. Of the time when the hire may be claimed
3. Of things the hire of which is unlawful
4. Of invalid hire
5. Of the responsibility of a hireling
6. Of hire on one of two conditions
7. Of the hire of slaves
8. Of disputes between the hirer and the hireling
9. On the dissolution of contracts of hire
Part XXXII. Of Mokatibs: 1. Introductory
2. Of invalid kitabat
3. Of acts unlawful to a mokatib
4. Of a person contracting a kitabat on behalf of a slave
5. Of the kitabat of partnership slaves
6. Of the death or insolvency of the mokatib
Part XXXIII. Of Willa
Part XXXIV. Of Ikrah, or Compulsion
Part XXXV. Of Hijr, or Inhibition: 1. Introductory
2. Of inhibition from weakness of mind
3. Of inhibition on account of debt
Part XXXVI. Of Mazoons, or Licenced Slaves
Part XXXVII. Of Ghazb, or Usurpation
Part XXXVIII. Of Shaffa: 1. Of persons to whom the right of shaffa appertains
2. Of claims to shaffa
3. Of the articles concerning which shaffa operates
4. Of circumstances which invalidate the rights of shaffa.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]