Adab al-Hisba
- Author died
- 550 AH
- Editions
- Matba'at Ernest Leroux
Adab al-Hisba (The Manners of Market Inspection) is an Andalusian legal and administrative manual on market oversight and public morality by the jurist al-Saqati al-Malaqi (fl. c. 500 AH / 1100 CE) . It is one of the earliest surviving specialized treatises on the institution of hisba in the Islamic West (al-Andalus and the Maghrib) .
Background and Purpose
The author, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad al-Saqati, hailed from Malaga in al-Andalus . In the introduction, al-Saqati explains that his motivation for composing the work arose from his extensive travels across regions during his youth, reports provided by trustworthy travelers and roaming merchants, and his own direct involvement in administrative occupations . He observed pervasive deceit, fraudulent weights and measures, and market tricks among dishonest vendors and craftsmen, at a time when individuals unqualified in jurisprudence and ignorant of the lawful (halal) and unlawful (haram) had taken over the office of hisba . Invoking the Quranic command to enjoin good and forbid wrong in وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ("Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong"), he wrote the treatise to expose fraudulent practices and guide officials .
Content and Method
The treatise defines the office of hisba as an intermediary position between the regular judiciary (qada') and the redress of grievances (mazalim), combining legal oversight (nazar shar'i) with executive deterrence (zajr sultani) . Al-Saqati outlines the requisite qualifications for the market supervisor (muhtasib), emphasizing that the appointee must be a jurist (faqih), upright, dignified, vigilant, discerning, and knowledgeable in administrative policy and the practical details of trades, without being swayed by personal gain or intimidation .
The text provides detailed practical guidelines for monitoring urban crafts, trades, and food preparation, detailing the specific tricks and adulteration techniques employed by bakers, millers, butchers, confectioners, spice dealers, and water carriers . It also addresses the regulation of market weights, scales, dry and liquid measures, the cleanliness of public streets, commercial transactions, and rules governing non-Muslim subjects (ahl al-dhimma) and disciplinary punishment (ta'zir) .
Modern Publication
Adab al-Hisba was edited by Georges S. Colin and Évariste Lévi-Provençal and published in the Journal Asiatique in 1931 . It serves as a primary source for the socio-economic and institutional history of medieval Andalusian urban markets .
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