Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/383

 is understood to authorize them to have recourse to the taqlīd for the matter in hand. This runs as follows: "we embrace the authority of the Ḥanafite Imām, this is our belief; I agree with the Ḥanafite imam in this question, that it is permissible to give in marriage a child under age who has neither father nor grandfather; I am convinced of the force of the Ḥanafite arguments".

After this mock taqlīd the kali is empowered by the wali in the same way as the teungku in other cases. The marriage ceremony is then completed, and as soon as the girl's family are of opinion that she is fit to share her husband's bed, she is handed over to him or rather he is brought to live with her.

The common people who have recourse to this takeulit in actual practice, have no knowledge of the niceties of the question. It is enough for them to know that a special method known as baléʾ meudeuhab, which is stamped with the approval of the ulamas of Acheh, and in which the kali is regarded as an indispensable guide, has to be adopted in order to marry young girls who have no walis in the ascending line and that this guide must receive 4 dollars for his trouble. It may even be doubted whether the majority of kalis, whose incomes are augmented to no inconsiderable degree by this baléʾ meudeuhab,have any real knowledge of its origin. Indeed some kalis find themselves compelled (like the teungkus) owing to their ignorance to have their task performed for them by some helpful friend who is well versed in the law.

As we have seen above, the kali is also resorted to on the less common occasions when a virgin of full age whose wali is absent or who has no wali, is given in marriage.

As Acheh forms a part of the East Indian Archipelago, our remarks on the marriage contract would be incomplete if we failed to notice one negative peculiarity, namely the complete absence in Acheh of a very characteristic adat which prevails among the vast majority of Moslims in these regions. Here again a slight digression is necessary in the absence of any reliable authority on the subject.