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)

Of the peculiar privileges of Mahommed in respect to the laws of marriage.
Before I leave the subject of marriages, it may be proper to take of the notice of some peculiar privileges in relation thereto, which were granted by God to Mohammed, as he gave out, exclusive of all other Moslems. One of them was, that he might lawfully marry as many wives, and have as many concubines as he pleased, without being confined to any particular number ¹; and this he pretended to have been the privilege of the prophets before him. Another was, that he might alter the turns of his wives, and take such of them to his bed as he thought fit, without being tied to that order and equality which others are obliged to observe ². A third privilege was, that no man might marry any of his wives ³, either such as he should divorce during his life-time, or such as he should leave widows at his death: which last particular exactly agrees with what the Jewish doctors have determined concerning the wives of their princes; it being judged by them to be a thing very indecent, and for that reason unlawful, for another to marry either the divorced wife or the widow of a king ⁴; and Mohammed, it seems, thought an equal respect, at least, due to the prophetic, as to the regal dignity, and therefore ordered that his relicts should pass the remainder of their lives in perpetual widowhood.

Of the laws of inheritances.
The laws of the Korân concerning inheritances are also in several respects conformable to those of the Jews, though principally designed to abolish certain practices of the pagan Arabs, who used to treat widows and orphan children with great injustice, frequently denying them any share in the inheritance of their fathers or their husbands, on pretence that the same ought to be distributed among those only who were able to bear arms, and disposing of the widows, even against their consent, as part of their husbands possessions ⁵. To prevent such injuries for the future, Mohammed ordered that women should be respected, and orphans have no wrong done them and in particular that women should not be taken against their wills, as by right of inheritance, but should themselves be entitled to a distributive part of what their parents, husbands, and near relations should leave behind them, in a certain proportion ⁶.

The general rule to be observed in the distribution of the