THE LAW

...this primitive character of the religious nature of institutions, but Islam has further reinforced it: perhaps none of the great religions embraces societies with such a broad reach, none invades private and public life so completely.

The strict Muslim is bound by multiple obligations: not only do ritual prayers repeat throughout the day, but his words, gestures, and steps are subject to a multitude of rules; the precepts of etiquette almost all have the value of religious prescriptions and are sufficiently complicated that it is nearly impossible for a European disguised among Muslims not to quickly betray his identity: hence the numerous failures of travelers who tried to pass themselves off as Muslims during their explorations. This likely refers to the "Great Game" era of exploration where figures like Richard Burton attempted to infiltrate sacred cities in disguise; the author suggests the complexity of daily ritual was the primary barrier to a successful ruse.

The law is entirely religious; prayer, inheritance, and personal grooming are regulated in the same way and on the authority of the same sources of divine law. Morality is often conflated with law; indeed, jurisprudence original: "fiqh" regulates all actions and classifies them as obligatory original: "ouâdjib", recommended original: "mandoûb", permitted original: "moubâh’", discouraged original: "makroûh", and forbidden original: "h’arâm"; human reason is incapable on its own of discerning good from evil, say the Muslim scholars The original uses "docteurs," referring to the Ulema or doctors of sacred law⁽¹⁾; everything is regulated, actions by jurisprudence, and beliefs by the science of creeds original: "aqâ’ïd"; refers to the articles of faith; the union of these two sciences is the "law" or Sharia original: "charî‘a". Six months ago, at the International Congress of Orientalists in Algiers which—

(1) See the translation of Al-Mawardi Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi (972–1058), a celebrated jurist of the Abbasid Caliphate by Léon Ostrorog, Introduction, pp. 4-6.