Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 31

natory techniques as these amongst the
Arabs. We have nothing to confirm that
the reflective surfaces of waters in oases
were ever used for these. Water, like per-
fume, was used in the rituals over the
making of pacts and alliances, but these
procedures had no divinatory character
at all.

(i) where there is generally enough
water for all users but where it is
possible to cause shortage to other
users by e.g. digging a canal to take
water from higher up the river than
other users (whether this is allowed
or not must be decided after inquiry
into the consequences); or

(ii) where damming or the allocation
of fixed times is necessary to pro-
vide enough water for irrigation.
In such cases, the river is normally
regarded as the joint property of
the riparian cultivators, and the
question of how much water may
be retained by the highest ripar-
ian cultivator depends on differing
circumstances, such as the season
of the year, the type of crop irri-
gated, etc. (c) canals. These are
the property of the landowner or
landowners in whose property they
are situated; where they are the
common property of several land-
owners, none of them may make
unilateral changes in arrangements
for sharing the water, or by build-
ing a mill or bridge over it, etc.

(T. Fahd)

2. Water in Classical Islamic
Law
In Islamic law there are seven kinds of
water which it is lawful to use for drink-
ing or ablution: water from rain, snow,
hail, springs, wells, rivers and the sea.
These sources may, however, be ren-
dered impure by the presence in them of
unclean objects.
Questions of ownership and the right
to take water depend on the nature of its
source, whether natural or artificial water-
courses, wells or springs (freshwater lakes
are not generally discussed in the sources
owing to their scarcity in the Islamic
lands). Ownership of a source of water
implies ownership of its arīm (reserved
area), consisting of that portion of land
adjacent to the water source sufficient to
enable the source to be used. One adī º
defines the extent of the arīm of a well as
40 cubits on every side, but other mea-
surements are also given.
The · arīa distinguishes three types of
water source which may be the subject of
use or ownership:

2. Wells
(a) Wells dug for the public benefit;
here the water is freely available to all,
the digger merely having the right of first
comer. (b) Wells dug by persons for their
own use, e.g. wells dug in the desert by
tribesmen. Such persons have first right
to the water while they are living in the
vicinity, but are obliged to give water to
persons suffering from thirst. After they
move away, the water becomes freely
available to all. (c) Wells dug by persons
intending them to be their own property.
Ownership, however, cannot be claimed
until water has actually been found, and
if the well needs lining, until it has been

1. Water from rivers, which may be (a)
great rivers, such as the Tigris and
Euphrates, which are of such a size
that they can be used by all for drink-
ing and irrigation to any extent; (b)
lesser rivers, in which case two possi-
bilities may be distinguished: