Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.8.5

79.8.5

Another thing was this. The ordinance of washing the whole body after an emission of semen, was considered as altogether unworthy of observance. And he brought forward the following argument. The sperma genitale is the very essence of man, for the semen is the origin of the existence of the good and the pure. What sense then could there be in ceremonial ablution being unnecessary after evacuation of parva and magna, while the emission of so tender a fluid should necessitate it. It would be more fit [he argued] that people should perform the ablution first, and then have connection. Similarly [he argued] that there could be no sense in offering food, which is material, to the spirit of a dead person, since he certainly could not experience any benefit from it: much better, therefore, would it be, on the day of any one’s birth to make that a high feast day. And this he named Āsh-i hayāt ‘Food of life.’ The flesh of the wild boar and the tiger was also permitted, because the courage, which these two animals possess, would be transmitted to any one who fed on such meat. It was forbidden to marry one’s cousin or near relation, because in such cases the sexual appetite is but small. Boys were not to marry before the age of sixteen, nor girls before fourteen, because the offspring of early marriages is weakly.