he said: I heard the Prophet say, "These implements do not enter into the house of a nation, unless that Allâh causes low-mindedness to enter in there at the same time."[1] So also, in his political testament the Chalîf ‘Omar when dying recommended the Bedâwî to his successor, 'for they are the root of the Arabs and the germ of Islam;'[2] and how little this Arabian politician could appreciate the importance of agriculture is evident from the edict in which he most strictly forbade the Arabs to acquire landed possessions and practise agriculture in the conquered districts. The only mode of life equally privileged with the roving nomad life was held to be the equally roving military profession, or life of nomads without herds and with arms. Even in Egypt, a specially agricultural country, this principle was acknowledged and strictly carried out.[3] He was likewise hostile to permanent buildings and houses such as are erected in towns. Once, passing by the brick house of one of his governors, he obliged him to refund the money that had enabled him to enjoy such luxury; and when Sa‘d b. Abî Waḳḳâs asked his permission to build a house, the Chalîf thought it was enough to possess a place that gave protection from the sun's heat and the rain.[4] And this same Chalîf, who may pass for a still better type of the true Semite than
- ↑ Al-Buchârî, Recueil &c. p. 67, No. 2. It is true these expressions might be balanced by a few somewhat opposite in character, such as that which declares that in the judgment of the Prophet the best business is Trade; according to other reporters Manufacture; according to others (whose version is regarded as the correct one) Agriculture (see al-Nawawî on Muslim's Collection of Traditions, IV. 32). Still such sentences, even when confirmed by others, cannot weaken the force of those cited in the text. I must also mention in conclusion that al Sha‘râni in his Book of the Balance (Kitâb al-mîzân, Cairo [Castelli], 1279, II. 68) mentions this question as a point of difference among the canonical authorities of Islamic theology: the school of al-Shâfe‘î regards trade as the noblest occupation, whilst the three other Imâms (Abû Ḥanîfâ, Mâlik b. Anas, and Aḥmed b. Ḥanbal) declare for field-labour and manufactures.
- ↑ See Alfred von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Khalifen, I. 16.
- ↑ Von Kremer, ibid. pp. 71, 77; Culturgeschichtliche Streifzüge, p. xi.
- ↑ Ibn ‘Abdi Rabbihi, Kitâb al-‘iḳd al-ferîd, ed. Bûlâḳ 1293 A. H., vol. III. p 347.
