| A
merchant of this city once bartered several chests of indigo (in Arabic Al Nil),
with another merchant, for sugar. But, before delivering the indigo to the
purchaser, it rose greatly in value, and he sought for some device to declare
the bargain void. The other merchant, however, maintained, as was natural, that
the trade was perfectly fair; and, as the other would not deliver up the indigo,
he saw himself compelled to go to law. In the mean time the defendant went
privately to the Kadi, and promised him a considerable sum if he could annul the
sale, although there was no pretext for such a proceeding. On the day fixed for
the hearing of the case, both parties appeared before the Kadi, to hear his
judgment, whether the sale should be set aside. The judge gave thereupon the
following wise and just decision: “Indigo is blue; sugar, on the contrary, is
white; therefore they are almost of opposite colours, and in nowise similar,
wherefore they cannot be bartered against one another; and the sale is
accordingly declared null and void.” Jews
and Muslims in Palestine
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