If a man leave an only daughter or grand-daughter, she has the half of his estate; if two or more, they have two-thirds. If he leave a son and daughters, the son has the share of two females, besides becoming, after the shares are allotted, the heir-general or residuary legatee.
The daughters born in wedlock have their allotted shares of inheritance, but in no case can they become heirs to any property beyond that amount, except to their manumitted slave. On the death of such a person they have a right to share as a relation, and can inherit as heirs. "The following text of the Koran is curious," said the Meer, "and merits to be quoted: 'There is not among women any heiress except her who kindly freed the enslaved neck.'"
"All you have said," I observed, "is very well. I understand the rights of your legitimate wives and daughters; but what becomes of the numerous progeny of slaves and others of the Harem?"
"What becomes of your illegitimate children in England?" replied the Meer, with more asperity than was usual to him; but my attack had roused him. "If," he continued, "the book which was written by Meerzâ Aboo Tâlib, who travelled in your country, is at all true, a great proportion of your females and their offspring are in a much more miserable and degraded state than any in our country! But perhaps," said he, in a milder tone, "Aboo Tâlib has exaggerated, which travellers are in the habit of doing."
I made no answer, for I thought of the parable of the "mote and the beam," and turned the conversation from this part of the subject by asking whether a man or woman could not bequeath their property, "I am no Moollâh," said Aga Meer, "to give a precise answer to such a question; but I know this, they can bestow it during life, and I believe that though, according to the strict interpretation of the Koran, pious or charitable bequests are alone legal, others are attended to by the judges when not very injurious or improper. I conclude this is the case, by my knowledge that wills are frequently made; but I am," he repeated, "no Moollâh."
"That you are not a Moollâh, I am very glad," said Jaffier Ali, "for I never can understand these doctors of our law; they have always so many reasons to state on both sides of every question, that they quite confuse me, and I really believe that wise and learned as they are, they often confuse themselves." "There is nothing, I can assure you, sir," said Jaffier Ali to me "that these Moollâhs like better than advocating the cause of our ladies, who, what with their aid, and that of other supporters, as well as their own spirit, have, I think, more than an equal share of power and authority."
"But why," said I, "if they have this power, and such rights of property, are they cooped up, and never allowed to stir abroad without veils? with such usages how can they attain that knowledge of the world which is necessary to enable them to perform their duties?"
"As to cooping up," said Aga Meer, who here resumed the contest, "Jaffier Ali has already explained the indulgences they have, in going abroad, and seeing their friends at home; and with respect to wearing veils, what you deem a punishment they consider a distinction, and look down with pity on the women of the Eelyât tribes and others, who do not follow this custom.
"I do not exactly know," said he, "what you mean by a knowledge of the world; nor do I distinctly understand the benefits you expect them to derive from such knowledge. "We," he added, smiling, "consider that loving and obeying their husbands, giving proper attention to their children, and their domestic duties, are the best occupations for females."
"That is," I replied, "your females are either the slaves of your pleasures, or drudges to perform the work of your house. This is their lot in the present world, and in the next, though you do not exclude them from heaven, you only allow, even to the most virtuous, as I said before, half the joys which are destined for a good man. They are in fact neither treated nor instructed in a manner that can elevate them to the rank which God meant them to hold, as the companions and friends of man; and, in the condition in which your laws and usages place them, they never can have that respect for themselves, nor receive it from others, which is essential to form a civilized community."