[69] The passage of the Koran favorable to temporary marriage is in chap. IV. v. 28: “For the advantage which you receive from them, give them their reward (assign them their dower), according to what is ordained: but it shall not be criminal to make any other agreement among yourselves, after the ordinance shall be complied with.” In this passage the word _matâh_ occurs. This sort of marriage is also admitted in the _Hédaya fil forú_, “the Guide in the Branches of the Law” (translated into English by Charles Hamilton, 1791). Nevertheless it was a subject of great contest among the Muhammedan doctors whether such a connection be legitimate or not. The Imám Abu Hanifah and others declared it abrogated, according to the universal concurrence of the prophet’s companions, on the authority of Ebn Abbas Abdallah, who died Hej. 68 (A. D. 687). This Imám adduced the information received from Ali, who, on the day of the combat of Chaibar (A. D. 630), heard the prophet declare that such marriages are forbidden. Moreover, a strong opposer to their legitimacy was _Yahia_, the son of Aktam, son of Muhammed, son of Katan, a celebrated judge, who died in the year of the Hejira 242 (A. D. 856). Living during the reign of Mamun, he succeeded in persuading the Khalif to prohibit by a decree temporary marriage, which he had before permitted.――(See _Abulfeda_, vol. II. pp. 195-199). [70] قبل و دبُر, antè vel retrorsum. [71] This is a work of Mohi eddin Ibn Arabi, who died in the year of the Hejira 638 (A. D. 1240), of whom hereafter. [72] Abu ’l Fazil, the wise minister of Akbar, is generally known by his work entitled _Ayín Akbarí_, “the Institutes of the Emperor Akbar,” translated from the original Persian, by Francis Gladwin, in two volumes. This work contains the best statistical account hitherto given respecting India of those times. Abu ’l Fazil was the first Muhammedan who bestowed attention upon the history and religion of the Hindus, and drew his information regarding them from their own books. It was by him, or under his eyes, that the Mahabharat was translated from Sanskrit into Persian. The tolerance and liberality of the Emperor Akbar towards all religions, and his attempt to establish a new creed, are generally ascribed to the influence of his enlightened minister, who paid it with his life: for Jehangir, Akbar’s fanatic son, hired assassins who murdered the excellent man, near Orcha, in the district of Narwar, on his return from the Dekan, during the life of Akbar, who, except his utmost indignation, had no punishment to inflict upon the heir-apparent of his empire. [73] افتاب, _aftab_, signifies sun and soul.