DECORUM, or modesty of demeanour between the sexes, is strictly enjoined in Muslim law, and a special chapter is devoted to it in the Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār and other works on Muḥammadan law.
A man is not allowed to look at a woman except at her hands and face, nor is he allowed to touch her. But a physician is permitted to exercise the duties of his profession without restriction.
A judge in the exercise of his office may look in the face of a woman, and witnesses are under the same necessity.
DECREES OF GOD, The. Arabic Qadar or Taqdīr. [[PREDESTINATION].]
DEEDS. Written deeds are, according to Muḥammadan law, of three kinds: I. Mustabīn-i-marsūm, or regular documents, such as are executed on paper, and have a regular title, superscription, &c., which are equivalent to oral declaration, whether the person be present or absent. II. Mustabīn-i-ghair-i-marsūm, or irregular documents, such as are not written on paper, but upon a wall or the leaf of a tree, or upon paper without any title or superscription or signature. III. Ghair-i-mustabīn, writings which are not documents in any sense, such as are delineated in the air or in the water by the motions of a dumb person.
DEFENDANT. Arabic muddaʿa ʿalaihi (مدعى عليه). Lit. “A claim upon him.”
The author of the Hidāyah (vol. iii. p. 63) says a defendant is a person who, if he should wish to avoid the litigation, is compellable to sustain it. Some have defined a plaintiff, with respect to any article of property, to be a person who, from his being disseized of the said article, has no right to it but by the establishment of proof; and a defendant to be a person who has a plea of right to that article from his seizing or possession of it.
The Imām Muḥammad has said that a defendant is a person who denies. This is correct; but it requires a skill and knowledge of jurisprudence to distinguish the denier in a suit, as the reality and not the appearance is efficient, and it frequently happens that a person is in appearance the plaintiff, whilst in reality he is the defendant. Thus a trustee, when he says to the owner of the deposit, “I have restored to you your deposit,” appears to be plaintiff, inasmuch as he pleads the return of the deposit; yet in reality he is the defendant, since he denies the obligation of responsibility, and hence his assertion, corroborated by an oath, must be credited.
DELIBERATION (Arabic taʾannī تانى) is enjoined by Muḥammad in the Traditions. He is related to have said, “Deliberation in your undertakings is pleasing to God, and hurry (ʿajalah) is pleasing to the devil.” “Deliberation is best in everything except in the things concerning eternity.” (Ḥadīs̤-i-Tirmiẕī.)
DELUGE, The. Arabic Ṭūfān (طوفان). The story of the deluge is given by Muḥammad in his Qurʾān, to the Arabians as a “secret history,” revealed to them ([Sūrah xi. 51]). The following are the allusions to it in the Qurʾān:—