George Sale, The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English immediately from the original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discource (1734)

opinion that the word denotes any animal which the Arabs used to turn loose in honour of their idols, allowing none to make use of them, thereafter, except women only ¹.

Wasîla is, by one author ², explained to signify a she-camel which had brought forth ten times, or an ewe which had yeaned seven times, and every time twins; and if the seventh time she brought forth a male and a female, they said, Wosilat akhába, i.e. She is joined, or was brought forth with her brother, after which none might drink the dam’s milk, except men only; and she was used as the Sâïba. Or Wasîla was particularly meant of sheep; as when an ewe brought forth a female, they took it to themselves, but when she brought forth a male, they consecrated it to their gods, but if both a male and a female, they said, She is joined to her brother, and did not sacrifice that male to their gods: or Wasîla was an ewe which brought forth first a male, and then a female, on whose account, or because she followed her brother, the male was not killed; but if the brought forth a male only, they said, Let this be an offering to our gods ³. Another ⁴ writes, that if an ewe brought forth twins seven times together, and the eighth time a male, they sacrificed that male to their gods; but if the eighth time she brought both a male and a female, they used to say, She is joined to her brother, and for the female’s sake they spared the male, and permitted not the dam’s milk to be drank by women. A third writer tells us, that Wasîla was an ewe, which having yeaned seven times, if that which she brought forth the seventh time was a male, they sacrificed it, but if a female, it was suffered to go loose, and was made use of by women only; and if the seventh time she brought forth both a male and a female, they held them both to be sacred, so that men only, were allowed to make any use of them, or to drink the milk of the female: and a fourth ⁵ describes it to be an ewe which brought forth ten females at five births one after another, i.e, every time twins, and whatever the brought forth afterwards was allowed to men, and not to women, &c.

Hâmi was a male camel used for a stallion, which, if the females had conceived ten times by him, was afterwards freed from labour, and let go loose, none driving him from pasture or from water; nor was any allowed to receive the least benefit from him, not even to shear his hair ⁶.