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 to 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 addre 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 dulne . 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 le , 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 a embly, 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 nece ity 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 po ible, or else dispel the drowsine 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 unle he transgre with respect to it. If therefore it be lost whilst it is in his care, and the lo has not been occasioned by any fault of his, the trustee has not to make good the lo , 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 transgre ion, and the trustee becomes responsible. If the trustee mix the deposit (as of grain, oil, .) 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. If the trustee deny the deposit upon demand, he is responsible in case of the lo of it. But not if the denial be made to a stranger, because (says Abū Yūsuf) the denial may be made for the sake of preserving it. In the case of a deposit by two persons, the trustee cannot deliver to either his share, except it be in the presence of the other. And when two persons receive a divisible article in trust, each must keep one half, although these restrictions are not regarded when they are held to be inconvenient, or contrary to custom.