Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/304

 A good teungku will, after getting a handsome allowance for himself, willingly bestow a portion on claimants of the other classes mentioned below, on their presenting themselves before him; but as to this there is no fixed rule and many teungkus retain the whole for their own use.

2°. The poor and 3°. the needy, or those in actual want, either come to the field themselves or visit the owners of the rice later on in the year and prefer their claims with becoming modesty. From the teungku they have little to hope for. In Acheh as in other Mohammedan countries, the devout poor only are regarded as having any real claim. Few such are to be found among vagrant beggars; while the teungkus and ulamas, who do as a rule observe their religious duties, can generally make themselves out to be "needy" in some sense or other. They are always ready to advance this qualification, as it brings them a share of rice and other things. Thus "poor" and "needy" in this sense is usually synonymous with ulama or teungku.

4°. Debtors who are unable to pay a debt incurred for a permissible or rather a meritorious purpose, seldom enjoy any share in the jakeuët in Acheh. The social conditions which might have given rise to such a separate class according to the spirit of the Mohammedan law, are too rare to be of any account.

5°. Poor travellers (Ach. meusapi from the Arabic musāfir) occasionally get something from the jakeuët, either from the teungku in whose meunasah they find temporary lodging or from people of the gampōngs who still have some padi left over, from which the tenth has not yet been deducted. The numerous hajjis from Krinchi (Korinchi) who in earlier times wandered from place to place in Acheh, were notable recipients of this dole.

6°. Assistance to slaves in their endeavours to purchase their freedom has seldom been given from the jakeuët in Acheh. Such an object is difficult to fulfil where there is no organized collection and administration of the tax, and besides the Achehnese have never been in the habit of entering into contracts of manumission with their slaves.

7°. Converts to Islam (Ach. muʾalah from the Arabic muʾallaf) are never refused a share in the jakeuët if they present themselves as