Composed in the twelfth century by the leading Muslim jurist Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani (1135–97), the original Arabic al-Hidāyah 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 Although since superseded, it remains a fascinating document in the history of colonial jurisprudence.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.
Contents
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.
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