Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-04-11

mot long ago I saw a witty article,
written by really experienced and
keen traveller, in which he told about
the calmness with which an Oriental
kadi\ adjourned his court because he
wished to take some refreshments and
smoke his pipe. I suppose that this
story, which was entirely correct as to
facts, impressed those who read 1t with
the autocracy and barbaric simplicity
of justice in Arabia, where the traveller
witnessed the scene.
But as a matter of fact, that occur
renee was a typical proof Of the con-
scientiousness> Of the Oriental kadi.
For what says the Koran for his direct
judgment?
Thou shalt not Judge, oh, Judge,
hast thou pain within thy body, dost
thou feel thy spirit troubled with thy
son, dost thou sorrow with thy friend!
Thou shalt not judge, oh, judge, feel
est thou hungry or dost thou thirst,
until thou hast reached a spring to re-
fresh thee! Thou shalt not judge, oh.
Judge, feelest thou in thy soul that God
hath not willed it to let thee judge!'
WHAT said an old kadi to me
when praised certain German judge
and in proof Of it; told how he had sat
awake all night studying a case and
then had sat for twelve hours to hear
it in court. What! Do you mean to
tell me, o Giaour. that he dared to sit
in judgment when he was weary and
fatigued 80 that his soul and mind
were not at peace? Unhappy Judges
of the Evening Lands, to whom the
sweetest duty of man means wretched-
ness! For surely no man can do JUS
tice unless he is happy and at rest
with himself and the world
"And are you never unhappy?
asked, when you face complex case
that puzzles you?'
May said he. We are never un-
happy when we Judge. II we be un-
happy, we do not judge
"And 80 they sit, white bearded, un-
patient, while fifty witnesses
swear before them concerning miss
ing camel bride or the right to get
water at a we'll. And when all the ev-
idence is in they Judge as carefully
and as conscientiously as II the fate Of
the Moslem world depended upon their
verdict.
"These men are truly at rest. They
have made the good fight, for they can
become kadis only after they have
made it. They have no ambitions save
to fulfill the words Of the Koran. They
smile at the strife that plays before
them, and maintain their own souls in
quietness.
Therefore the kadi is not merely a
Judge in cases Of law. He Is the Wise
Man Of the district. Men come to him
with their quarrels and disputes and
to be judged, even
when the cases are not at all within
legal Jurisdiction.
I'm Arabia and eastern Asiatic Tur-
key q man cannot become kadi by ac-
cident Of birth and station or by favor
Of politics or other influence. He must
choose the profession and train himself
for the profession from early youth.
when the Oriental boy Is IL years
old he must enter the Medrese, theo-
logical government school, If he wishes
to enter either the theological or legal
profession. There he learns the Koran
by heart.
1T is expounded to him minutely,
passage by passage. He Is known as
a Sofia while he Is studying. When
he knows the Koran thoroughly, so
that he can hold his own in arguments
with the teachers, he assumes the
name Of Hafis and prepares for the
examination. A student rarely rises
to the degree Of. Hafis until he is 20
years old.
when he passes the examination
he must choose at once between the
ology and the law. Having chosen the
latter he faces five years Of study even
harder than any that has gone before.
During that time he must make HIM
self proficient in logic rhetoric, morals,
philosophy, theology and law.
"Then he is ready to pass the exam
ination which shall entitle him to be-
come a kadi. But he is not advanced
to that dignity Immediately after he
has passed the examination, for the
most important and distinctive part OF
the training has still to come. He
must become one Of the poor and learn
their daily life, their temptations and
their sorrows by hard personal expe-
rience.
"This stage Of his career lasts three
years and almost all its conditions are
rigidly prescribed. He must practice
in court during that time, taking the
cases Of the poor.
His income from this source Is al
most nominal, and he must keep him
self alive by earning petty income
with all kinds Of hard, mean toll. So
he learns the world in which he Is to
be a Judge, for he struggles for exist
ence as do the people who will come
before him some day to be judged.
But though he experiences their pri-
vations and their temptations, he may
not stumble like them. To become a
Judge, o Hafis, the green cloth that
thou wearest around thy fez must be
ever unsoiled' is the law.
1T Is bitter, hard service. But they
who go through 1t untarnished are wise
when they emerge. They are what the
Koran demands when 1t says that on
ly O human being who has become a
true man shall dare to judge other hu-
man beings.
Hans Forster, the Orientalist, who
knows the true Eastern judge better,