al-Kanz al-Akbar fi al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Nahy an al-Munkar - Ibn Qadi Ajalun
- Author died
- 928 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā’ir al-Islāmiyyah lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
al-Kanz al-Akbar fi al-Amr bil-Ma'ruf wa al-Nahy 'an al-Munkar (The Greatest Treasure on Enjoining Good and Forbidding Wrong) is a focused historical-legal treatise written by the Shafi'i jurist Taqi al-Din Abu Bakr ibn Qadi Ajlun (814–928 AH / 1411–1522 CE) to refute the existence of an alleged tomb at one of the northern gates of Jayrun in Damascus and to establish that the location is a public thoroughfare for Muslims.
Background and Purpose
The treatise was authored in response to requests from companions asking Ibn Qadi Ajlun to compile the rulings and statements of earlier scholars regarding a contested site at the northern gate of Jayrun in Damascus. A claim had circulated—promoted by the Rafidah and commoners—that a female member of the Prophet's household named Malikah, supposedly descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, was buried at that location. Ibn Qadi Ajlun composed the work to demonstrate that this claim was baseless, that no such figure exists in the lineage of Ali, and that enjoining the removal of such illicit encroachments constitutes a duty of enjoining good and forbidding wrong (al-amr bil-ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar). He completed the treatise on 10 Rabi' al-Thani 894 AH.
Contents and Sources
The book compiles documented historical evidence, fatwas, and scholarly testimonies spanning several centuries, which the author introduces with his own chains of transmission (asanid):
- Abu Shama al-Maqdisi (d. 665 AH): Ibn Qadi Ajlun transmits from Abu Shama's work al-Ba'ith 'ala Inkar al-Bida' wa al-Hawadith—received through chains via Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Nasir al-Din, and Ali ibn Isma'il ibn Bardis—recording that the fabrication began around 636 AH through a fabricated dream, leading people to block the thoroughfare and construct a usurped mosque there.
- Ibn al-Attar (d. 724 AH): The author cites Ibn al-Attar's fatwa affirming that the shrine is an ungrounded seventh-century innovation, noting that Ibn Asakir never mentioned such a grave in his survey of Damascus cemeteries and that no descendant of Ali bore the name Malikah.
- Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi: The work quotes a dedicated monograph by Ibn Nasir al-Din explaining that the origin of the rumor was a beggar who, failing to obtain alms, cried out that the site was the grave of "Sitt Malikah," prompting the crowd to construct a shrine and carve her name on the threshold. The illicit building later burned down during the invasion of Timur, though the inscription on the lintel survived.
- Muhammad al-Balatunusi: The text notes al-Balatunusi's opposition in his own treatise against innovations, recounting how he personally dismantled prayer beads and fake grave markers set up there by commoners.
- Ahmad al-Ikhna'i (aged 89 at the time): Ibn Qadi Ajlun records the firsthand testimony of al-Ikhna'i, who testified that the Salih water channel (Qanat Salih) passed directly through the area and that after 830 AH, an associate named Faris belonging to the citadel viceroy Kumushbugha Tulw built a southern wall on the dirt mound, turning it into a storage depot where improper acts took place until its roof fell into ruin.
- Ibn Asakir: The text references Tarikh Madinat Dimashq regarding the history and structural configuration of the Jayrun gates.
Royal Intervention and Resolution
When later attempts were made to reconstruct the illicit structure at the gate, Damascus scholars objected and petitioned the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay (al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasr Qaitbay). In 892 AH, Sultan Qaitbay issued an official decree ordering the implementation of the scholars' verdict. Consequently, the false inscription was erased from the threshold and replaced with text clarifying the scholarly ruling and the site's true status as a public street.
Editions
The work has been edited and published in modern print by al-Sayyid Abd Allah al-Husayni.
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