[190] Bundahis, i. 24; xxviii. 14, 16. Dînâ-î Maînôg-î Khirad, xix. 4, 6; xxx. 5; xxxvi. 29. Darmesteter, in Sacred Books of the East, iv. p. lxii. Spiegel, Erânische Alterthumskunde, iii. 684 sq. Geiger, Civilization of the Eastern Irānians, i. 164 sq. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, i. 534, 536.
[191] Dînâ-î Maînôg-î Khirad, xxxvii. 2 sqq.
[192] Vendîdâd, iv. 5 sqq.
[193] Yasts, x. 2.
[194] Herodotus, i. 136, 138. Cf. Stobæus, Florilegium, 44, vol. ii. 227; Xenophon, Cyri Institutio, i. 6. 33.
[195] Rawlinson, in his translation of Herodotus, i. 262 sq. n. 3.
[196] Spiegel, op. cit. iii. 686.
[197] Polak, Persien, i. 10. Wallin, Reseanteckningar från Orienten, iv. 192, 247. Wilson, Persian Life and Customs, p. 229 sqq.
[198] Polak, op. cit. ii. 95.
Falsehood is a prevailing vice in other Muhammedan countries also. “Constant veracity,” says Mr. Lane, “is a virtue extremely rare in modern Egypt”; and a deceitful disposition in commercial transactions is one of the most notorious faults of the Egyptian.[199] Mr. Lane partly ascribes this habit to the influence of Islam, which allows, and even commands, falsehood in certain cases. The common Moslem doctrine is, that a lie is permissible when told in order to save one’s own life, or to reconcile persons at variance with each other, or to please or persuade one’s wife, or to obtain any advantage in a war with the enemies of the faith.[200] But in other cases lying was highly reprobated by the Prophet; and that the people have not forgotten its sinfulness appears from the phrase, “No, I beg forgiveness of God, it was so and so,” which they seldom omit when retracting an unintentional mis-statement.[201] I think it is erroneous to regard the want of truthfulness among Muhammedan nations as a result of their religion. The Eastern Christians and Buddhists are no less addicted to falsehood than the Muhammedans.[202]