A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the...

The law regarding the division of water for the purposes of irrigation, known as shirb (شرب), or “a right to water,” is most important in the East, where so much of the cultivation of land depends not upon the fall of rain but upon irrigation. In Afghanistan, there are more disputes and more murders committed over the division of water than with regard to any other question. A claim of shirb, or “right of water,” is valid, independent of any property in the ground, for a person may become endowed with it, exclusive of the ground, either by inheritance or bequest; and it sometimes happens that when a person sells his lands, he reserves to himself the right of shirb. No person can alter or obstruct the course of water running through his ground, and in the case of disputes regarding a rivulet held jointly by several, it is the duty of the judge to make a distribution of the water according to the extent of land which they severally possess; for, as the object of right to water is to moisten the lands, it is but fit that each should receive a just proportion. A rivulet must not be dammed up for the convenience of one partner without the consent of the others; nor can he dig a trench or erect a mill upon a rivulet used for irrigation, without the general consent of all persons concerned. The same restriction applies, also, to a water-engine or a bridge.

One partner cannot alter the mode of partition without the others’ consent, nor increase the number of sluices or openings through which he receives his share, nor convey his share into lands not entitled to receive it, nor even to lands which are entitled to receive it, nor can he shut up any of the sluices, or exchange the manner of division in any way, as, for example, by taking the water in rotation instead of division by sluices. A right to water cannot be consigned as a dower, nor given as a consideration in K͟hulʿ, when a wife bargains for her divorce [KHULʿ], nor in composition for a claim, nor sold to discharge the debts of a defunct owner. It is also noted that if a person, by irrigating his lands, should by that means overflow those of his neighbour, he is not liable to make compensation, as he was not guilty of any transgression.

WAZ̤ĪFAH (وظيفة), from waz̤f, “a daily ration of food.” (l) A term used for a daily lesson, or portion from the Qurʾān which is read by devout Muslims. The Qurʾān is divided into thirty sipārahs as the daily waz̤īfah to be read during the month of Ramaẓān.

WAZĪR (وزير). A Vezeer. The principal minister in a Muḥammadan country. There are three opinions respecting the etymology of the word. Some derive it from wizr, “a burden,” because the wazīr bears the burden of state; others from wazar, “a refuge,” because the ruler has recourse to the counsels of the wazīr; others from azr, “the back, or strength,” because the ruler is strengthened by his wazīr as the human frame is by the back.

Mr. Lane (Arabian Nights, Intro., p. 23), says: “The post of wezeer was the highest that was held by an officer of the pen; and the person who occupied it was properly the next to the Sultān; but the Turkish Sultāns of Egypt made the office of nāïb, or “viceroy,” to have the pre-eminence. Under them, the post of wezeer was sometimes occupied by an officer of the pen, and sometimes by an officer of the sword; and in both cases the wezeer was called ‘the Ṣāḥeb.’ ”

K͟halīl az-Zāhir relates that Muḥammad said, “Whosoever is in authority over Muslims, if God prosper him, shall be given a virtuous wazīr. The wazīr shall remind him when he forgetteth his duty, and shall assist him when he doth remember it. But to a bad ruler God giveth an evil-minded wazīr, who, when the ruler forgetteth his duty, does not remind him of it, and when he remembereth his duty, doth not assist him to perform it.”

WEEK. Arabic usbūʿ (اسبوع), subūʿ (سبوع); Heb. שָׁבוּעַ shāvūaʿ. The Muḥammadan week (as the Jewish and Christian) begins with Sunday and ends with Saturday. In the Qurʾān, Sūrah vii. 52, it is said “God created the heavens and the earth in six days.” In Sūrah xvi. 125, it is said, “the Sabbath was only made for those who dispute thereon,” which al-Baiẓāwī says means that the Sabbath was established for the Jews who disputed with Moses regarding it; but there is no injunction in the Qurʾān for the due observance of the Sabbath. [DAY, FRIDAY.]

WELLS. Arabic biʾr (بئر), pl. abʾār. Heb. בְּאֵר Beʾēr. If a person dig a well for public use, it is held by Imām Muḥammad that his right to the well ceases as soon as the people drink of the well; but Imām Abū Ḥanīfah is of opinion that it does not become common property until the magistrates issue a decree to that effect. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 357.)

If any animal, or impurity of any kind, fall into a well, all the water must be drawn out before the well can be lawfully used; and if it be impossible to draw the whole of the water, then not less than 300 bucketfuls must be drawn out. If the animal has in any way become putrified in the well, then the water must not be used for three whole days; but in any other case the water can be used after the lapse of a whole day. (Sharḥu ʾl-Wiqāyah, p. 10.)

WHISTLING. Arabic mukāʾ (مكاء). Mentioned in the Qurʾān, Sūrah viii. 35: “Their (the Quraish) prayer at the House was naught but whistling and clapping hands! Taste, then, the torment, for that ye misbelieve.” From which it is understood that whistling was one of the idolatrous ceremonies in the days of ignorance in the Makkan temple. Whistling is therefore generally held to be unlawful for pious Muslims.

WIDOWS. Arabic armalah (ارملة). Heb. אַלְמָנָה almānāh. Mourning is incumbent upon a widow for a period of four months and ten days after the death of her husband. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 370.) After this period she may lawfully take another husband, provided she be not pregnant of her first husband. A widow’s share of her late husband’s property is one-eighth when there is a child, or a son’s child, how low soever, and a fourth when there is no child. Though a man may have as many as four wives, the provision for two or more is the same as that for one: the fourth or eighth, as the case may be, being divisible among them equally. (Baillie’s Law of Inheritance, p. 59.)

If a Muslim, whose wife was once a Christian should die, and his widow appear before a Qāẓī and declare that she is Muslim, and that she embraced the faith prior to the death of her husband, and the heirs assert the contrary, the assertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the rights of the widow. And if a Christian die, and his widow appear before the Qāẓī as a Muslim, and the heirs declare the contrary, the assertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the widow. (Grady’s Hidāyah, p. 347.)

WILLS. Arabic waṣīyah (وصية), pl. waṣāyā, which term is held by Muslim legists to mean “an endowment with the property of anything after death, as if one person should say to another, ‘Give this article of mine, after my death, to a particular person.’ ”

A bequest is rescinded by the express declaration of the testator, or by any act on his part implying his retractation, or which extinguishes his property in the legacy. But the testator’s denying his bequest is not a retractation of it, nor his declaring it unlawful or usurious, nor his desiring the execution of it to be deferred. A bequest to one person is annulled by a subsequent bequest of the same article to another, unless that other be not then alive.