History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. II.] UNEQUAL LAWS. 67

Governor of Shiraz to send the criminal to the capital. These orders were of course obeyed, and the accused was given in charge of the mounted police to be taken to that city. The culprit again made his escape through the connivance of the guard while at Goam, and took refuge in a holy place called Imamjada Hazrati Masuma. According to the law of Islam, no person, however great his offence, can be arrested in a sanctuary, and the murderer remained there for a long period. It is stated that he has since been pardoned on the recommendation of the “ Mousted,” the highest religious lawgiver, who declared that, as the Zoroastrian acted in violation of the law of Islam, a true believer committed no offence in slaying him! Thus the villain, who ought long ago to have forfeited his life, is still at large, perhaps posing as a martyr for haying been arraigned when he had performed a meritorious action.

Let us now see how justice is reversed in cases when the murder of a Mahomedan has been perpetrated. A Jew had a claim against a Mahomedan for a sum of money, and the latter refusing to pay it, both of them came to blows, in which the Mahomedan lost his life. As the victim was a “believer,” the fine was one thousand tomans besides imprisonment, which was promptly imposed and carried out. The Mahomedan law is founded on the Koran, and the administrators

of it are the “mullas” or priests, whose decision is