al-Iqna lil-Mawardi
- Author died
- 450 AH
- Editions
- al-Iqna lil-Mawardi
al-Iqna' (The Persuasion) is a concise manual (mukhtasar) of Shafi'i jurisprudence authored by the judge and jurist al-Mawardi (364–450 AH / 975–1058 CE) .
Composition and Scope
The work was composed as an extreme condensation of al-Mawardi's comprehensive multi-volume legal encyclopedia, al-Hawi al-Kabir (The Comprehensive Major Work) . Al-Mawardi himself characterized the contrast in scope between the two works, remarking: "I expanded jurisprudence into four thousand leaves, and abridged it into forty," intending by the former al-Hawi and by the latter al-Iqna' .
According to a Basran historical account transmitted by Yaqut al-Hamawi and al-Safadi, the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir bi-Allah commissioned four leading jurists of his time to each author a concise handbook representing one of the four Sunni schools of law . Al-Mawardi authored al-Iqna' for the Shafi'i school, Abu al-Husayn al-Quduri authored his celebrated Mukhtasar for the Hanafi school, and Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ali ibn Nasr al-Maliki authored an abridgment for the Maliki school, alongside a fourth summary compiled for the Hanbali school .
Reception
When the compendia were presented to Caliph al-Qadir bi-Allah, a palace servant was sent out to al-Mawardi with the Caliph's praise: "The Commander of the Faithful says to you: May Allah safeguard your religion for you just as you have safeguarded our religion for us" . Subsequent Shafi'i authorities, such as al-Nawawi in his legal commentary al-Majmu', cited legal rulings and determinations recorded by al-Mawardi in al-Iqna' .
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