WATER

Arabic māʾ ( ماء‎ ), pl. miyāh , amwāh . Heb. ‏מַיִם‎ mayim , waters. In the Qurʾān, Sūrah xxi. 31 , it is said, “We clave them (the heavens and the earth) asunder, and by means of water , We gave life to everything.” Which, as Sprenger (vol. i. p. 30 n ) remarks, is one of the principles of the Ebionite doctrine. Al-Baiẓāwī says it means either that God made all animals from water, or that the chief element in animal life is water, or that animal life is supported chiefly by water. Muḥammadan writers say there are seven kinds of water which are lawful for the purposes of purification and drinking:— Māʾu ʾl-mat̤ar , rain-water. Māʾu ʾl-ʿain , spring-water. Māʾu ʾl-bīʾr , well-water. Māʾu ʾl-barad , hail-water. Māʾu ʾs̤-s̤alj , snow-water. Māʾu ʾl-baḥr , sea-water. Māʾu ʾn-nahr , river-water. Water which is considered lawful for ablution is also lawful for drinking, and vice versâ . Ibn ʿUmar relates that Muḥammad was asked about the water of the plains in which animals go to drink, ., and he said, “When the water is equal to two qullahs , it is not impure.” ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says two qullahs are equal to 250 mans . ( Mishkāt , Matthew’s ed., vol. i. p. 107.) [ WELLS .] Mr. Sell, in his Faith of Islam , says:— “Minute regulations are laid down with regard to the water which may be used for purification. The following kinds of water are lawful:—rain, sea, river, fountain, well, snow, and ice-water. Ice is not lawful. The first kind is authorised by the Qurán. ‘He sent you down water from heaven that He might thereby cleanse you, and cause the pollution of Satan to pa from you.’ ( Súra viii. 11 .) The use of the others is sanctioned by the Traditions. I give one illustration. A man one day came to the Prophet and said: ‘I am going on a voyage and shall only have a small supply of fresh water; if I use it for ablutions I shall have none wherewith to quench my thirst, may I use sea-water?’ The Prophet replied: ‘The water of the sea is pure.’ Tirmízí states that this is a Hadís-i-Sahíh. Great difference of opinion exists with regard to what constitutes impurity in water, and so renders it unfit for ablutions. It would be wearisome to the reader to enter into all details, but I may briefly say that, amongst the orthodox, it is generally held that if a dead body or any unclean thing falls into flowing water, or into a reservoir more than 15 feet square, it can be used, provided always that the colour, smell, and taste are not changed. It is for this reason that the pool near a mosque is never le than ten cubits square. If of that size, it is called a dah dar dah (literally 10 × 10). It may be, and commonly is, larger than this. It should be about one foot deep.” Rights regarding water . According to Muḥammadan law, water is of four kinds:— (1) The water of the ocean, to which every person has a perfect and equal right, for the enjoyment of the ocean is common to everyone, in the same manner as the light of the sun or the air we breathe. (2) The waters of large rivers, such as the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, or the Oxus, from which every person has an absolute right to drink, and also a conditional right to use it for the purpose of irrigating his lands. For example, if a person desire to cultivate waste land, and dig a watercourse or canal for the purpose of conveying water to it from the river, he may lawfully do so, provided the act be in no sense detrimental to the people. The same law applies to the erection of a water-mill on the banks of a river. (3) Water in which several have a share; in which case also the right of drinking is common to all, whilst there are certain restrictions regarding its use for the purposes of irrigation, which will be hereafter treated of. (4) Water which is kept in ve els; which is regarded as property, except in times of scarcity, when it is even lawful to seize it for common use. 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 po e ; 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 transgre ion. WAʿZ̤ ( وعظ‎ ). A sermon. [ KHUTBAH , WAIʾZ .] WAZ̤ĪFAH ( وظيفة‎ ), from waz̤f , “a daily ration of food.” (l) A term used for a daily le on, 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. (2) A pension or stipend granted to pious persons . (3) Revenue collected at a stipulated rate. 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 for get teth his duty, and shall a ist him when he doth remember it. But to a bad ruler God giveth an evil-minded wazīr , who, when the ruler for get teth his duty, does not remind him of it, and when he remember eth his duty, doth not a ist him to perform it.”