al-Ghurar al-Bahiya fi Sharh al-Bahja al-Wardiya
- Author died
- 926 AH
- Editions
- al-Maṭbaʻah al-Maymanīyah
al-Ghurar al-Bahiya fi Sharh al-Bahja al-Wardiya (The Radiant Blazes in Explaining the Rose-Tinted Joy) is a multi-volume legal commentary on Shafi'i jurisprudence by the Egyptian scholar and judge Zakariya al-Ansari (d. 926 AH / 1520 CE) . It serves as an extensive explanation of al-Bahja al-Wardiya, a 5,263-verse didactic poem composed in the rajaz meter by Ibn al-Wardi (d. 749 AH / 1349 CE) to versify al-Hawi al-Saghir (The Small Comprehensive) of Najm al-Din 'Abd al-Ghaffar al-Qazwini (d. 665 AH / 1266 CE) .
Background and Composition
Al-Bahja al-Wardiya (also known as Bahjat al-Hawi) was widely regarded among Shafi'i jurists as one of the most comprehensive poetic treatments of substantive law (furu'), prompting multiple scholars to compose commentaries on it . Zakariya al-Ansari composed two distinct commentaries on the poem: an expansive, major commentary (al-Sharh al-Kabir) titled al-Ghurar al-Bahiya, and an abridged commentary (al-Sharh al-Saghir) titled Khulasat al-Fawa'id al-Muhammadiyya .
In his preface to al-Ghurar al-Bahiya, al-Ansari states that he wrote the work in response to requests from students who attended his circles, seeking a commentary that would unpack the poem's phrasing, elucidate its subtle points, verify its legal cases, substantiate its legal evidences, and incorporate beneficial maxims and verified principles (al-qawa'id al-muharrarat) .
Method and Content
The work is organized as a running commentary interwoven with the poetic text (sharh mamzuj), taking each verse or hemistich and glossing its grammatical, lexical, and legal implications . Al-Ansari analyzes the phrasing of the poetic text, explains linguistic derivatives, addresses underlying jurisprudential principles, and details the relied-upon positions within the Shafi'i school across the standard chapters of Islamic jurisprudence .
Reception and Supercommentaries
Al-Ghurar al-Bahiya achieved broad circulation across the Islamic world during and after al-Ansari's lifetime, becoming a standard teaching and reference text in late Shafi'i scholarship . His contemporary al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH / 1497 CE) remarked that copies of the commentary spread rapidly across many regions, though he noted critical observations regarding students' dependence on it and al-Ansari's integration of the poetic lines .
Due to its prominence, subsequent Shafi'i jurists authored supercommentaries (hawashi) on it, notably:
- Hashiyat al-Shirbini by al-Khatib al-Shirbini (d. 977 AH / 1570 CE) .
- Hashiyat al-'Abbadi by Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Qasim al-'Abbadi (d. 994 AH / 1586 CE) .
The text was printed in Cairo at al-Matba'a al-Maymaniyya in 1318 AH in five volumes, published alongside the marginal glosses of both Ibn Qasim al-'Abbadi and al-Khatib al-Shirbini .
Answer updated