A SHARĪʿAH REVIEW OF THE DECREES OF WALĪֿ SWAT RELATED TO "MORTGAGE" AS MENTIONED IN THE BOOK OF “RIWAJ NAMĀ SWAT”
Abstract
The rule of Mian Gul Abdul Wadood Bacha Sahib in Swat began in 1917. After Mian Gul Abdul Wadood Bacha Sahib got the government, he adopted Jirga System[i]. According to this system, the Jirga was responsible for making laws for the area that would have been included in the state of Swat either by choice or force. The laws made by Jirga members for their area were written down and signatures or thumb marks of Jirga members were recorded on them. These were called the "manuals" (Dastoor-ul- Amal). In future, all the decisions related to any matter or crime was carried out through these manuals. Hence, it was the Jirga that used to formulate laws for their areas. However, prevailing local customs and traditions would also be taken into consideration for making any law. Therefore, these laws were not uniform throughout the state, rather regional color prevailed.
When Bacha Sahib's hold on the government was strengthened, he started issuing orders on his own and instructed the respective Jirgas to make them part of their own manual. When Bacha Sahib transferred the government to his son Mian Gul Abdul Haq Jahanzeb Wali Swat, like his father, he also issued written orders that were kept on record, in order to be practiced accordingly.
The state of Swat was integrated into Pakistan as a district in 1969. The government of that time directed the Jirgas to settle disputes according to the local customs. So for the guidance of Jirgas, Ghulam Habib Khan compiled these laws in the book form, which was published with the name of "Riwaj Namā Swat ". This article examines the Shariah status of decrees related to "Mortgage" in "Riwaj Namā Swat, which are eleven decrees in total, starting from Decree No. 238 to Decree No. 248.
