D.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Hughes, Thomas Patrick
“Before them the people of Noah treated the truth as a lie, Our servant did they charge with falsehood, and said, ‘Demoniac!’ and he was rejected.
“Then cried he to his Lord, ‘Verily, they prevail against me; come thou therefore to my succour.’
“So we opened the gates of Heaven with water which fell in torrents,
“And we caused the earth to break forth with springs, and their waters met by settled decree.
“And we bare him on a vessel made with planks and nails.
“Under our eyes it floated on: a recompense to him who had been rejected with unbelief.
“And we left it a sign: but, is there any one who receives the warning?
“And how great was my vengeance and my menace!”
“And it was revealed unto Noah: ‘Verily, none of thy people shall believe, save they who have believed already; therefore be not thou grieved at their doings.
“‘But build the Ark under our eye and after our revelation: and plead not with me for the evil-doers, for they are to be drowned.’
“So he built the Ark; and whenever the chiefs of his people passed by they laughed him to scorn: said he, ‘Though ye laugh at us, we truly shall laugh at you, even as ye laugh at us; and in the end ye shall know
“‘On whom a punishment shall come that shall shame him; and on whom shall light a lasting punishment.’
“Thus was it until our sentence came to pass, and the earth’s surface boiled up. We said, ‘Carry into it one pair of every kind, and thy family, except him on whom sentence hath before been passed, and those who have believed.’ But they believed not with him except a few.
“And he said, ‘Embark ye therein. In the name of God be its course and its riding at anchor! Truly my Lord is right Gracious, Merciful.’
“And the Ark moved on with them amid waves like mountains: and Noah called to his son—for he was apart—‘Embark with us, O my child! and be not with the unbelievers.’
“He said, ‘I will betake me to a mountain that shall secure me from the water.’ He said, ‘None shall be secure this day from the decree of God, save him on whom He shall have mercy.’ And a wave passed between them, and he was among the drowned.
“And it was said, ‘O Earth! swallow up thy water’; and ‘cease, O Heaven!’ And the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and the Ark rested upon al-Jūdī; and it was said, ‘Avaunt! ye tribe of the wicked!’
“And Noah called on his Lord and said, ‘O Lord! verily my son is of my family: and thy promise is true, and thou art the most just of judges.’
“He said, ‘O Noah! verily, he is not of thy family: in this thou actest not aright. Ask not of me that whereof thou knowest nought: I warn thee that thou become not of the ignorant.’
“He said, ‘To thee verily, O my Lord, do I repair lest I ask that of thee wherein I have no knowledge: unless thou forgive me and be merciful to me I shall be one of the lost.’
“It was said to him, ‘O Noah! debark with peace from Us, and with blessings on thee and on peoples from those who are with thee; but as for part, we will suffer them to enjoy themselves, but afterwards they shall suffer a grievous punishment from us to be inflicted.’
“This is a secret history which we reveal to thee. Thou didst not know them, thou nor thy people before this.”
DEMONS. [DEVILS, GENII.]
DEPORTMENT. Arabic ʿilmu ʾl-muʿāsharah (علم المعاشرة). Persian nishast u barkhāst. The Traditionists take some pains to explain the precise manner in which their Prophet walked, sat, slept, and rose, but their accounts are not always uniform and consistent. For example, whilst ʿAbbād relates that he saw the Prophet sleeping on his back with one leg over the other, Jābir says the Prophet distinctly forbade it.
Modesty of deportment is enjoined in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xvii. 39: “Walk not proudly on the earth,” which the commentators say means that the believer is not to toss his head or his arms as he walks. Sūrah xxv. 64: “The servants of the Merciful One are those who walk upon the earth lowly, and when the ignorant address them say, ‘Peace!’”
Faqīr Jānī Muḥammad Asʿad, the author of the celebrated ethical work, the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī, gives the following advice as regards general deportment:—
“He should not hurry as he walks, for that is a sign of levity; neither should he be unreasonably tardy, for that is a token of dulness. Let him neither stalk like the overbearing, nor agitate himself in the way of women and eunuchs; but constantly observe the middle course. Let him avoid going often backwards and forwards, for that betokens bewilderment; and holding his head downwards, for that indicates a mind overcome by sorrow and anxiety. In riding, no less, the same medium is to be observed. When he sits, let him not extend his feet, nor put one upon another. He must never kneel except in deference to his king, his preceptor, and his father, or other such person. Let him not rest his head on his knee or his hand, for that is a mark of dejection and indolence. Neither let him hold his neck awry, nor indulge in foolish tricks, such as playing with his fingers or other joints. Let him avoid twisting round or stretching himself. In spitting and blowing his nose, let him be careful that no one sees or hears him; that he blow it not towards the Qiblah, nor upon his hand, his skirt, or sleeve-lappet.
“When he enters an assembly, let him sit neither lower nor higher than his proper station. If he be himself the head of the party, he can sit as he likes, for his place must be the highest wherever it may be. If he has inadvertently taken a wrong place, let him exchange it for his own as soon as he discovers his mistake; should his own be occupied, he must return without disturbing others or annoying himself.
“In the presence of his male or female domestics, let him never bare anything but his hands and his face: the parts from his knee to his navel let him never expose at all; neither in public nor private, except on occasions of necessity for ablution and the like. (Vide Gen. ix. 20; Lev. xvii. 6, xx. 11; Deut. xxii. 30.)
“He must not sleep in the presence of other persons, or lie on his back, particularly as the habit of snoring is thereby encouraged.
“Should sleep overpower him in the midst of a party, let him get up, if possible, or else dispel the drowsiness by relating some story, entering on some debate, and the like. But if he is with a set of persons who sleep themselves, let him either bear them company or leave them.
“The upshot of the whole is this: Let him so behave as not to incommode or disgust others; and should any of these observances appear troublesome, let him reflect, that to be formed to their contraries would be still more odious and still more unpleasant than any pains which their acquirement may cost him.” (Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī, Thompson’s Translation, p. 292.)
DEPOSIT (Arabic wadīʿah وديعة, pl. wadāiʿ), in the language of the law, signifies a thing entrusted to the care of another. The proprietor of the thing is called mūdiʿ, or depositor; the person entrusted with it is mūdaʿ, or trustee, and the property deposited is wadīʿah, which literally means the leaving of a thing with another.
According to the Hidāyah, the following are the rules of Islām regarding deposits.
A trustee is not responsible for deposit unless he transgress with respect to it. If therefore it be lost whilst it is in his care, and the loss has not been occasioned by any fault of his, the trustee has not to make good the loss, because the Prophet said, “an honest trustee is not responsible.”
A trustee may also keep the deposit himself or he may entrust it to another, provided the person is a member of his own family, but if he gives it to a stranger he renders himself responsible.
If the deposit is demanded by the depositor, and the trustee neglects to give it up, it is a transgression, and the trustee becomes responsible.
If the trustee mix the deposit (as of grain, oil, &c.) with his own property, in such a manner that the property cannot be separated, the depositor can claim to share equally in the whole property. But if the mixture be the result of accident, the proprietor becomes a proportionate sharer in the whole.