al-Ahkam li Abd al-Malik ibn Habib
- Author died
- 238 AH
- Editions
- Wizārat al-Awqāf wa-al-Shu’ūn al-Islāmiyyah - Dawlat Qaṭar
al-Ahkam (Judicial Rulings) is an early Maliki legal work on judicial procedure and rulings by the Andalusian jurist Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Habib al-Sulami (d. 238 AH / 853 CE; another report gives 239 AH) .
Scope and Content
The work addresses judicial rulings, evidentiary rules, litigation (al-da'wa), oaths (al-ayman), and testimonies (al-shahadat) according to early Maliki doctrine . It opens with the chapter on rulings in claims (al-hukm fi al-da'wa), examining foundational legal maxims, such as the prophetic hadith: لو يعطى الناس بدعواهم لادعى ناس دماء رجال وأموالهم، ولكن اليمين على المدعى عليه ("If people were given [claims] merely based on their allegations, men would claim the blood and wealth of others; rather, the oath is upon the defendant") .
The text details key areas of judicial procedure, including:
- The burden of proof and social interaction (mukhalata): An oath is directed to the defendant only when prior association or commercial dealing (mukhalata or mulabasa) is established between the disputants, reflecting the rulings of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz in Medina and the doctrine of Malik ibn Anas .
- Subsequent discovery of evidence: If a claimant discovers evidence after the defendant has already sworn an oath, the claim is adjudicated based on the principle traced to Umar ibn al-Khattab: البينة العادلة أحق من اليمين الفاجرة ("Just evidence has more right than a perjured oath") .
- Single witness and the complementary oath: The rules governing cases where a claimant brings a single witness and is asked to swear an oath alongside it (al-yamin ma'a al-shahid), as well as the effects of refusing to swear (nukul) .
- Administration and solemnity of oaths: The physical location and conditions for taking oaths, distinguishing between claims of significant value (reaching a quarter of a dinar or more)—which required swearing while standing near the Prophet's pulpit in Medina or at the central congregational mosque in other cities—and lesser claims, which could be sworn while seated in court or at home . It also notes procedures for non-Muslim litigants swearing within their own places of worship .
Sources and Methodology
Ibn Habib structures his discussions by transmitting hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ, legal traditions from the Companions and early Successors, and doctrines of the Medinan school . He relies on transmissions received from prominent teachers in Egypt and the Hijaz, including Asbagh ibn al-Faraj, Isma'il ibn Abi Uways, Mutarrif ibn Abd Allah, Abd al-Malik ibn al-Majishun, and Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam . Throughout the text, he directly interrogates Mutarrif and Ibn al-Majishun regarding specific points of practical application and consensus among the scholars of Medina .
Reception and Transmission
Ibn Habib's judicial transmissions and works served as an early source for procedural doctrine in western Maliki jurisprudence . Later North African and Andalusian jurists extensively cited Ibn Habib's legal formulations on the judiciary, including Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani in al-Nawadir wa-l-Ziyadat, Ibn Abi Zamanin in Muntakhab al-Ahkam, Ibn Sahl in Diwan al-Ahkam al-Kubra, Abu al-Walid al-Baji in al-Muntaqa, and Burhan al-Din Ibn Farhun in Tabsirat al-Hukkam .
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