Muhammad Khayri al-Mufti
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Muhammad Khayri al-Mufti (fl. 14th century AH / 20th century CE) was a Syrian legal specialist and court practitioner known for his manual on Islamic estate division and statutory inheritance law, ‘Ilm al-fara’id wa-al-mawarith fi al-shari‘a al-islamiyya wa-al-qanun al-suri (The Science of Prescribed Shares and Inheritances in Islamic Law and Syrian Law) .
Lineage and Career
Muhammad Khayri al-Mufti was the son of ‘Abd al-Karim al-Mufti ibn Mulla Qasim al-Mufti ibn Mulla Muhammad al-Mufti ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Mufti, belonging to the Al ‘Uraym al-‘Ani family .
He was employed in the Sharia judiciary, where he was entrusted with the administration of estate and inheritance proceedings at the Sharia Court of Damascus . In this post, he oversaw the computation of prescribed shares (fara’id) and successive distributions (munasakhat) over an extended period, acquiring practical expertise in settling estate disputes .
Legal Work and Reception
Colleagues and peers encouraged al-Mufti to document the rare and intricate estate problems he encountered on the bench, and to compile a systematic reference work that would assist students and scholars with applied calculations . Responding to these requests, he authored ‘Ilm al-fara’id wa-al-mawarith fi al-shari‘a al-islamiyya wa-al-qanun al-suri, completing its draft on the morning of Wednesday, 15 Ramadan 1383 AH (29 January 1964 CE) . The manual aimed to simplify traditional Islamic inheritance jurisprudence for modern application, incorporating statutory provisions alongside practical case demonstrations .
In a foreword to the work, Murshid ‘Abidin commended al-Mufti's mastery of estate division, praising the book for its clear exposition, accessible style, and thorough use of worked examples designed to facilitate problem-solving for contemporary readers .
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List of Works
Ilm al-Faraid wal-Mawarith fi al-Sharia al-Islamiyya wal-Qanun al-Suri (The Science of Prescribed Shares and Inheritances in Islamic Law and Syrian Law) is a legal manual on Islamic estate division and statutory inheritance law. Designed to serve both students and practicing jurists, it simplifies classical legal literature for contemporary application by featuring solved practical problems and aligning classical Hanafi jurisprudence with the Syrian Personal Status Code introduced under Legislative Decree No. 59 of 17 September 1953.