doubtless rooted in the ecclesiastical law of Christendom which was
then first evolved. I have no doubt that the development of Muhammedan
tradition, which precedes the code proper, was dependent upon the
growth of canon law in the old Church, and that this again, or at
least the purely legal part of it, is closely connected with the
pre-Justinian legislation. Roman law does not seem to me to have
influenced Islam immediately in the form of Justinian's _Corpus
Juris_, but indirectly from such ecclesiastical sources as the
Romano-Syrian code. This view, however, I would distinctly state, is
merely my conjecture. For our present purpose it is more important to
establish the fact that the doctrine of duty canonised the manifold
expressions of the theory that life is a religion, with which we have
met throughout the traditional literature: all human acts are thus
legally considered as obligatory or forbidden when corresponding with
religious commands or prohibitions, as congenial or obnoxious to the
law or as matters legally indifferent and therefore permissible. The
arrangement of the work of daily life in correspondence with these
religious points of view is the most important outcome of the
Muhammedan doctrine of duties. The religious utterances which also
cover the whole business of life were first made duties by this
doctrine: in practice their fulfilment is impossible, but the theory
of their obligatory nature is a fundamental element in Muhammedanism.

Where the doctrine of duties deals with legal rights, its application
was in practice confined to marriage and the affairs of family life:
the theoretical demands of its penal clauses, for instance, raise
impossible difficulties. At the same time, it has been of great
importance to the whole spiritual life of Islam down to the present
day, because it reflects Muhammedan ideals of life and of man's place
in the world. Even to-day it remains the daily bread of the soul that