al-Fiqh al-Muyassar

Al-Fiqh al-Muyassar (al-Fiqh al-Muyassar: Mawsū‘ah Fiqhiyyah Ḥadīthah Tatanāwal Aḥkām al-Fiqh al-Islāmī bi-Uslūb Wāḍiḥ li-l-Mukhtaṣṣīn wa-Ghayrihim) is a contemporary multi-volume encyclopedia of Islamic jurisprudence co-authored by Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Tayyar, Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Mutlaq, and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Musa al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.

Authorship and Purpose

The authors—former academic peers who held university professorships and institutional roles in Saudi Arabia, including the Council of Senior Scholars and the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta—collaborated to produce a comprehensive reference work that simplifies Islamic legal rulings for both specialists and general readers al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+1. They noted that classical legal manuals had become difficult for many readers to navigate due to their density and archaic style, creating a pressing need for a modern exposition that addresses traditional topics alongside emergent contemporary issues (al-nawāzil) and unregulated new contracts (‘uqūd ghayr musammāt) al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+1.

Methodology and Scope

The authors outlined several methodological principles for the encyclopedia:

• Presenting the views across the four prominent Sunni schools of jurisprudence—the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali—in a concise manner without extensive digression into polemics al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+1.
• Highlighting the resolutions of contemporary Islamic jurisprudence academies (al-majāmi‘ al-fiqhiyyah) and official fatwas al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Specifying the preponderant view (al-rājih) where deemed necessary based on legal evidence al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Focusing on primary issues of practical relevance rather than exhaustive sub-branches or hypothetical scenarios al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Relying on authoritative classical texts of each school while utilizing rigorous modern university dissertations and research papers al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.

Structure and Contents

The work spans thirteen volumes, dividing Islamic jurisprudence into traditional categories and dedicated volumes on contemporary legal problems:

• Acts of Worship (‘Ibādāt): Covers ritual purification (ṭahārah), prayer, funerals, zakah, fasting, and pilgrimage al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+1.
• Financial Transactions (Mu‘āmalāt): Includes sales, pledges, partnerships, leasing, endowments, and bequests al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Penal Law, Oaths, and Warfare: Addresses dietary laws, oaths, vows, intentional and unintentional injuries (jināyāt), blood money (diyāt), prescribed punishments (ḥudūd), and jihad al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Judicial System: Covers the judiciary (qaḍā’), the legal profession (muḥāmāh), and arbitration (taḥkīm) al-Fiqh al-Muyassar.
• Contemporary Issues (al-Nawāzil): The later volumes are devoted to modern issues, including unprecedented matters in acts of worship (Volume 9), financial transactions (Volume 10), family law (Volume 11), and contemporary medical ethics and procedures (Volume 12), concluding with a general section on modern legal problems (Volume 13) al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+4.

Publication

The encyclopedia was published by Madar al-Watan li-l-Nashr in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with its first edition appearing in 1432 AH (2011 CE) and a second edition in 1433 AH (2012 CE) al-Fiqh al-Muyassar+1.