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CHAPTER LXVI, II-20.
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accept.' 17. But there are needy men who always come to us and speak thus : 'For 350 dirhams we will twice conduct all the religious rites with holywater ?, as you have always ordered us before for 400 dirhams; order it only of us, for shouldst thou have it managed by priestly men, they always say that they should always perform a curtailment (kâstârih) of the religious rites and ceremonies of the sacred beings, and that all the religious rites are not authorisedly ordered except of them.'
18. Although a priest (aêrpato) who becomes a ruler of the ceremonial should be doubly a decider, yet order some one to explain to us clearly concerning these questions, as asked by us.
19. The reply is this, that the man of the good religion who intended to order all the religious rites is he whose desire is goodness, and he should be a decider of questions about it.
20. As to the priest who spoke thus:-'Thou shouldst order it of me for 350 3 dirhams, as you have always given before your business was arranged; and it becomes your own non-religious share of the duty, to be authorisedly given, because you have proceeded with the alleged demeanour of the country and for the purpose of intercession; and all the
The disciples, who are represented as applicants for employment.
? That is, in the most solemn manner, and with all appliances. It appears from Chap. LXXXVIII, 9, that the religious rites without holy-water were then performed for 120 to 150 dirhams, or little more than one-third the fee demanded for those with holy-water; whereas the merit of some rites with holy-water is said to be a hundred times as great as that of the same rites without holy-water (see Sls. XVI, 6).
* M14 has '400' here, but see $ 2.
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