[2] Died 780. Al Makk., i. 113, 343, ascribes the change to
Hakem I.; and an author quoted, i. p. 403, ascribes it to
Abdurrahman I.

[3] Al Makk., ii. 123.

[4] Al Makk., i. 113, implies the reverse of this. Dozy, ii. p.
59.

[5] Conde, i. 294.

[6] Dozy, iv. 255.

[7] In spite of Al Makkari's statement, i. 112, where he says
that all innovations and heretical practices were abhorred by
the people. If the Khalif, he says, had countenanced any such,
he would have been torn to pieces.

[8] Dozy, iii. 271.

[9] Al Makkari, ii. 109.

But in other and more important respects we can see the disintegrating
effect which intercourse with Christians had upon the social
institutions of the Koran.[1]

_(a.)_ Wine, which is expressly forbidden by Mohammed,[2] was much drunk
throughout the country,[3] the example being often set by the king
himself. Hakem I. seems to have been the first of these to drink the
forbidden juice.[4] His namesake, Hakem II. (961-976), however, set his
face against the practice of drinking wine, and even gave orders for all
the vines in his kingdom to be rooted up--an edict which he recalled at
the instance of his councillors, who pointed out that it would ruin many
poor families, and would not cure the evil, as wine would be smuggled in
or illicitly made of figs or other fruit. Hakem consequently contented
himself with forbidding anew the use of spirituous liquors in the most
stringent terms.[5] Even the faquis had taken to drinking wine, and they
defended the practice by saying that the prohibition might be
disregarded by Moslems, who were engaged in a perpetual war with
infidels.

_(b.)_ Music was much cultivated, yet a traditionary saying of Mohammed
runs thus: "To hear music is to sin against the law; to perform music is
to sin against religion; to enjoy music is to be guilty of
infidelity."[6] Abdurrahman II. (822-852) in especial was very fond of
music, and gave the great musician Ziryab or Ali ibn Nafi a home at his
Court, when the latter was driven from the East by professional
jealousy. Strict Mohammedans always protested against these violations
of their law. The important sect of Hanbalites in particular, like our
own Puritans, made a crusade against these abuses. They "caused a great
commotion in the tenth century in Baghdad by entering people's houses
and spilling their wine, if they found any, and beating the
singing-girls th