truth, I am unfit; but if I tell a lie, a liar is not fit to be a judge." It is said that he read the Korân in the prison where he died, no less than 7,000 times.4 The Hanefites are called by an Arabian writer5 the followers of reason, and those of the three other sects, followers of tradition; the former being principally guided by their own judgment in their decisions, and the latter adhering more tenaciously to the traditions of Mohammed. The sect of Abu Hanîfa heretofore obtained chiefly in Irâk,6 but now generally prevails among the Turks and Tartars: his doctrine was brought into great credit by Abu Yûsof, chief justice under the Khalîfs al Hâdi and Harûn al Rashîd.7 3 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 298. Prid. Life of Mahomet, p. 51, &c. Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 68, &c. Millium, de Mohammedismo ante Moh. p. 368, 369. 4 See before, p. 90. 1 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 293. 2 Ebn Khalecân. 3 This was the true cause of his imprisonment and death, and not his refusing to subscribe to the opinion of absolute predestination, as D'Herbelot writes (Bibl. Orient. p. 21), misled by the dubious acceptation of the word "kadâ," which signifies not only GOD'S decree in particular, but also the giving sentence as a judge in general; nor could Abu Hanîfa have been reckoned orthodox had he denied one of the principal articles of faith. 4 Poc. Spec. p. 297, 298. 5 Al Shahrestani, ibid. 6 Idem. 7 Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 21 and 22. The second orthodox sect is that of Mâlec Ebn Ans, who was born at Medina, in the year of the Hejra 90, 93, 94,8 or 95,9 and died there in 177,10 178,11 or 17912 (for so much do authors differ). This doctor is said to have paid great regard to the traditions of Mohammed.13 In his last illness, a friend going to visit him found him in tears, and asking him the reason of it, he answered, "How should I not weep? and who has more reason to weep than I? Would to GOD that for every question decided by me according to my own opinion, I had received so many stripes! then would my accounts be easier. Would to GOD I had never given any decision of my own!"1 Al Ghazâli thinks it a sufficient proof of Malec's directing his knowledge to the glory of GOD, that being once asked his opinion as to forty-eight questions, his answer to thirty-two of them was, that he did not know; it being no easy matter for one who has any other view than God's glory to make so frank a confession of his ignorance.2 The doctrine of Malec is chiefly followed in Barbary and other parts of Africa. The author of the third orthodox sect was Mohammed Ebn Edrîs al Shâfeï, born either at Gaza or Ascalon, in Palestine, in the year of the Hejra 150, the same day (as some will have it) that Abu Hanîfa died, and was carried to Mecca at two years of age, and there educated.3 He died in 204,4 in Egypt, whither he went about five years before.5 This doctor is celebrated for his