Islam Its Belief and Practices - Radical Truth

140 ISLAM ITS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 141
likewise for two men to embrace each other. The joining
of hands, however, by way of salutation is permitted.
Mu!;J.ammad said: "Whosoever joins his hand to that of
his brother Muslim and shakes it, shall be forgiven of
his sins."
Sale.
A Mussalman is not allowed to pay his debts by the
sale of wine: but a Christian may pay his debts in this
manner.
It is abominable to monopolize the necessaries of life,
and food for cattle, in a city where such monopoly is likely
to prove detrimental. Similarly it is abominable to forestall
the market.
It is not the'duty of sovereigns to establish fixed
prices to be paid by the community, except in cases of
necessity.
A house may be let to hire anywhere out of a city for
the purpose of a pagoda or a church or even to sell wine
in it.
'
If an infidel hire a Mussalman to carry wine for him,
and afterwards pay him for his labour the money so
obtained is lawful.
Usury.
The Qur'an strongly forbids usury (Sura 2: 276). In
the language of the law, it signifies an excess, according to
a legal standard of measurement or weight, in one of two
homogeneous articles (of weight or measurement of capacity)
opposed to each other in a contract of exchange, and
in which such excess is stipulated as an obligatory condition
on one of the parties, without any return,-that is,
without anything being opposed to it. The sale, therefore,
of two loads of barley (for instance) in exchange for
one load of wheat does not constitute usury, since these
articles are not homogeneous: and on the other hand, the
sale of ten yards of Herat cloth in exchange for five yards
of Herat cloth is not usury, since, although these articles
be homogenous, still they are not estimable by weight or
measurement of capacity.
Inheritance.
Fara'i4. The term Fara'i4 is an abbreviation of
'Ilmu'l-Fara'i4 or the science of the portions, ordered,
appointed for the heirs by divine command in the Qur'an
(Sura 4: 8-18).
The law of inheritance, even according to Muslim
doctors of law, is acknowledged to be an exceedingly
difficult subject to study. We, however, quote the brief
summary of it as given by Klein in the Reli~ion of Islam:
"The property of the deceased Muslim is applicable, in the
first place, to the payment of the funeral expenses; secondly,
to the discharge of his debts; thirdly, to the payment
of legacies as far as the third of the residue. The remaining
two-thirds, with so much of the third as is not
absorbed by legacies, are the patrimony of the heirs. A
Muslim is, therefore, disabled from disposing of more than
a-third of his property by will.
The residue of the estate, after the payment of funeral
expenses, debts and legacies, descends to the heirs and
among these, the first persons for whom the law has provided
specific shares or portions and who are, therefore,
called sharers (dha wu'l-furUdh). After the sharers have
been satisfied, any residue remaining is divided among the
distant relations.
During his life-time a Muslim has absolute power
over his property, and may dispose of it as he likes. He
must, however, deliver the property to the donee in his
life-time. As regards testamentary dispositions in the