al-Aqd al-Mufrad fi al-Fiqh ala Madhhab al-Imam Ahmad
- Author died
- 1335 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
al-Aqd al-Mufrad fi al-Fiqh ala Madhhab al-Imam Ahmad (The Unique Necklace in Jurisprudence According to the School of Imam Ahmad) is an abridgment of Hanbali jurisprudence by the Egyptian Shafi'i scholar Abu Ayyasha Muhammad al-Bayoumi (1263–1335 AH / 1847–1917 CE).
Background and Purpose
Al-Bayoumi composed the work as a concise and accessible summary of the school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In his introduction, he explained that Hanbali legal treatises were scarce in Egypt, particularly in the northern Delta region (al-Bilad al-Bahriyya), owing to the small number of practitioners there. Recognizing that individuals frequently needed to follow other schools on specific legal rulings to avoid falling into sin, and noting that the Hanbali school offered practical dispensations and thorough solutions in many circumstances, he compiled the text to fulfill this need.
Sources and Method
The book represents a synthesis and condensation of two authoritative late Hanbali commentaries:
- Nayl al-Maarib Sharh Dalil al-Talib by Abd al-Qadir ibn Umar al-Shaybani (d. 1135 AH / 1723 CE), from which al-Bayoumi drew his topical arrangement and chapter ordering.
- al-Rawd al-Murbi Sharh Zad al-Mustaqni by Mansur ibn Yunus al-Buhuti (d. 1051 AH / 1641 CE), from which he adapted his presentation of legal questions, internal intra-school disagreements, and references to authoritative late rulings.
Al-Bayoumi organized the text into overarching books (kutub), subdivided into chapters (abwab) and sections (fusal). He concluded only two chapters with a dedicated notice (tanbih)—the chapter on the Sunnahs and disliked acts of prayer, and the chapter on the Friday prayer—and brought the entire work to a close with a concluding appendix (tatimmah). In establishing the school's doctrine, the text relies on the settled determinations of late Hanbali verifiers regarding contested transmissions and historical disagreements within the madhhab.
Transmission and Manuscripts
The author's autograph manuscript, along with his drafts, was preserved in the Rawdat Khayri library in Disunis near Damanhur, Egypt, before the collection was acquired by the Central Library of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The work has also been edited and published in academic form.
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