al-Isaf fi Ahkam al-Awqaf
- Author died
- 922 AH
- Editions
- Maṭba‘ah Hindīyah
Al-Isaf fi Ahkam al-Awqaf (The Aid in the Rulings of Endowments) is a specialized manual of Hanafi jurisprudence on the legal rulings and administration of religious endowments (waqf), authored by Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Tarabulsi (d. 922 AH / 1516 CE) .
Composition and Sources
The work was conceived as a concise compilation that synthesizes the earlier foundational treatises on endowment law authored by the classical Hanafi jurists Hilal al-Ra'y (d. 245 AH) and al-Khassaf (d. 261 AH) . Al-Tarabulsi completed the drafting of the text on Thursday, 15 Muharram 905 AH (1499 CE) in Cairo, recording that he personally transcribed two further copies after finishing the initial manuscript .
Contents and Legal Scope
The book addresses the legal, procedural, and administrative aspects of endowments according to the Hanafi school. In the opening sections, the author examines the linguistic and legal definitions of endowment, setting forth the legal positions and internal disagreements among early Hanafi authorities—Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani—concerning whether an endowment is inherently binding, whether it requires judicial decree or a testamentary formulation, and the scriptural evidence and early precedents cited for each view .
The subsequent chapters detail practical legal questions and contingencies, including:
- Rules governing longstanding endowments whose original documentation or witnesses have been lost over time, and how judges must handle records in court registers (diwan) .
- The conditions established by endowers and their legal force.
- The management, repair, revenue distribution, and rights of beneficiaries and trustees (nazir) .
Transmission and Print History
Al-Isaf fi Ahkam al-Awqaf was preserved in numerous manuscript libraries, including copies held in the library of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, the National Library of Tunisia, and Princeton University Library . The text was first published in Cairo at the Bulaq Press, followed by a second edition printed at the Hindiyya Press in al-Azbakiyya in Cairo in Rabi' al-Thani 1320 AH (1902 CE), and was later reprinted by offset in Beirut in 1401 AH (1981 CE) .
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