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Religion and Society in Qajar Iran

Religion and Society in Qajar Iran
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E. G. Browne relates this story in his A Year amongst the Persians in order to demonstrate the ‘gross ignorance which sometimes characterises [a mullå’s] decisions’. The episode was related to Browne by one of his BÇb¥ associates in Kerman, and the question was designed ‘to expose this ignorance’ of the clergy. As it is related here, however, the jibe is unwarranted. A hole ‘half a yard in each direction’ is not half a yard square (it is half a yard cubed). The mullå, in the absence of a specification of depth, assumes that the hole is dug to the same depth as the original request. This assumption is perfectly legitimate from a jurisprudential perspective.2 If this is the case, then the workman does indeed deserve one quarter of the original sum: eight k. råns of wages are fairly reduced to two k. råns. The enquirer’s remonstration contains a piece of information which was not included in the original request: that the hole is half a yard deep. It is too late though; the mullå, acting presumably as a judge or muft¥, has been presented with the case, given his response and sealed the reply.
RoutledgeCurzon; November 2004
512 pages; ISBN 9780203337370
Read online, or download in secure PDF format or MobiPocket
ISBNs
9781134304196
9781134304189
9780415338141
9780203337370
0203337379