al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Imam Malik

al-Dhabb ʿan Madhhab al-Imam Malik (Defending the School of Imam Malik) is a substantive legal treatise authored by the North African Maliki jurist Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (310–386 AH / 922–996 CE) to defend the foundational principles and branch rulings of the Maliki school against criticisms raised by opposing legal schools al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…+1.

Purpose and Scope

The work belongs to the classical genre of Maliki apologetic and polemical literature (kutub al-intisar wal-rudud), compiled by scholars to substantiate Malik ibn Anas's methodology and rulings in the face of counterarguments from rival jurists Masadir al-Fiqh al-Maliki. Its complete title, as recorded in surviving manuscript parts, reflects its overarching scope: al-Dhabb ʿan Madhhab Malik ibn Anas fi Ghayr Shayʾ min Usulihi wa-Baʿd Masaʾil min Furuʿihi wa-Kashf ma Labbasa bihi Baʿd Ahl al-Khilaf wa-ma Jahilahu min Makharij al-Aslaf (Defending the School of Malik ibn Anas in Several of its Principles and Substantive Rulings, Exposing the Obfuscations of Opponents, and Clarifying What They Ignored of the Early Authorities' Legal Derivations) al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…. In it, Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani engages legal opponents, clarifies misconceptions regarding Maliki legal reasoning, and articulates the textual and rational justifications underlying the positions of the early Medinese authorities al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…+1.

Structure and Contents

The treatise is divided into multiple parts covering contested questions of legal theory and applied jurisprudence:

• Part Two contains thirteen detailed thematic chapters addressing specific legal disputes: the admissibility of children's testimony, an accidental killing of game by a pilgrim in ihram, the marriage of an enslaved person without a master's permission alongside a woman marrying without a guardian's permission, a woman giving her zakat to her husband, an enslaved person sold to satisfy the debts of a bankrupt or deceased owner when the proceeds perish in the hands of a trustee before ownership is reclaimed, intercourse with a son's slave woman, the legal ruling regarding the heretic (zindiq), a father marrying using his child's wealth or manumitting slaves from it, a father retracting a gift made to his child, whether a Christian husband can legally validate the remarriage of a triple-divorced Muslim woman, marriage, divorce, and legal protection (ihsan) among non-Muslims, divorce in polytheism, child maintenance, and divorce pronounced prior to marriage al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…. The concluding section of this part also elucidates general maxims of legal caution and principles governing contractual binding versus dissolution, and how legal doubt is addressed in religious practice al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im….
• Part Three opens with the legal debate concerning the minimum threshold for a marriage dower (aqall ma yakunu sadaqan) and proceeds with further disputed substantive chapters al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…+1.

Transmission and Publication

The text was transmitted directly from Ibn Abi Zayd's personal manuscript in Kairouan by Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Andalusi, who completed copying the second part at the beginning of Sha'ban in 371 AH and transmitted the work to scholars including Muhammad ibn 'Ittab al-Dhabb an Madhhab al-Im…+1. In modern times, the surviving portions of the book were edited and published by the Center for Studies, Research, and Heritage Revival (Markaz al-Dirasat wal-Abhath wa-Ihya' al-Turath) in Morocco al-Risala li-Ibn Abi Zayd….