al-Hiyal
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Maṭābiʿ al-Jāmiʿah al-Islāmiyyah
al-Hiyal (Legal Devices) is a work of Islamic jurisprudence on licit legal exits and stratagems attributed to the Shafi'i jurist Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Masudi (d. after 420 AH / 1029 CE) .
Author and Context
The author was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud al-Mas'udi (also identified in biographical sources as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik or Muhammad ibn Mas'ud) . He was a prominent scholar from Merv and one of the leading students of Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Marwazi (d. 417 AH / 1026 CE) . Al-Mas'udi was celebrated among the jurists of the Khurasanian branch of the Shafi'i school for his precision in substantive law and his commentary on Mukhtasar al-Muzani . He died in Merv shortly after 420 AH (variously reported as 421 AH or around that time) .
Subject and Legal Theory
The genre of hiyal (legal devices or solutions) addresses juristic formulas and arrangements that allow individuals to navigate conflicting legal obligations, fulfill vows, or avoid falling into sin or unwanted legal consequences—such as breaking oaths or triggering conditional divorce—while remaining compliant with the outward form of Islamic law . Within Shafi'i legal theory, licit devices are distinguished from prohibited tricks: a device that secures a lawful outcome without invalidating an established right of another person is deemed permissible and commendable .
Al-Mas'udi was renowned for resolving intricate legal dilemmas through such devices . A celebrated case attributed to him—recorded by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in al-Wasit and later cited by al-Rafi'i and Taj al-Din al-Subki—involved a man who took an oath never to eat eggs, and subsequently swore to eat whatever was inside another man's sleeve, which turned out to contain eggs . When al-Qaffal hesitated to provide an immediate solution, al-Mas'udi resolved the problem by proposing that the eggs be incorporated into al-nataf (a sweet confection / al-qabbayt); eating the confection fulfilled the requirement of consuming what was in the sleeve without violating the prohibition against eating eggs as such .
Reception
Al-Mas'udi's legal reasoning and contributions to Shafi'i legal solutions were transmitted by major figures of the school, including al-Furani in al-Ibanah and al-Umad, and were cited by later jurists such as al-Nawawi and Ibn Kathir . Biographical and bibliographical works classify his juristic outputs among the authoritative Khurasanian sources on legal stratagems and exemptions .
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