Al-Ifham fi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Tawzī‘ Mu’assasat al-Juraysī
Al-Ifham fi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam (Making Understood: A Commentary on the Pillar of Legal Rulings) is a legal hadith commentary by the Saudi scholar Ibn Baz (1330–1420 AH / 1912–1999 CE), explaining the foundational hadith compilation Umdat al-Ahkam by Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (541–600 AH) .
Composition and Delivery
The work originated from oral lessons delivered by Ibn Baz in 1409 AH (1988–1989 CE) in the mosque adjacent to his residence in the al-Badi'ah district of Riyadh . The sessions took place between the call to prayer (adhan) and the secondary call (iqama) of the evening prayer (Isha), where the mosque's imam, Muhammad Ilyas ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Hindi, recited the text to Ibn Baz . Ibn Baz typically addressed between one and five hadiths per session .
Method and Content
The commentary is concise and focused, designed to elucidate the legal rulings derived from the prophetic traditions compiled in Umdat al-Ahkam . In his explanations, Ibn Baz restricted himself to establishing the preponderant legal opinions supported directly by evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah, frequently citing concise, authentic hadiths as supporting proofs .
Transcription and Publication
The oral lessons were recorded across twenty audio tapes and remained unedited for decades . In 1415 AH, Sa'id ibn Ali ibn Wahf al-Qahtani obtained a partial transcription that had been prepared by female students at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, covering the text up to hadith 391 in the chapter on food (Kitab al-At'imah) . Al-Qahtani subsequently entrusted the audio tapes to Eid ibn Muhammad al-Rumayh, who transcribed the remaining thirty-eight hadiths (numbers 392 to 430) from the chapter on hunting to the end of the text .
Al-Qahtani collated the transcriptions word-for-word against the audio recordings, referenced the hadiths against Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and assigned the title Al-Ifham fi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam to the compilation . Due to a gap in the surviving audio archives, the commentary lacks explanations for twenty-four hadiths (numbers 62 through 85) . Following approval from Grand Mufti Abd al-Aziz Al al-Shaykh in 1434 AH, the book was prepared and published under the auspices of the Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Charitable Foundation .
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