al-Luma fi Usul al-Fiqh li al-Shirazi
- Author died
- 476 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah
al-Luma fi Usul al-Fiqh (The Illuminations in Legal Theory) is a foundational manual on Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory (usul al-fiqh) authored by the Shafi'i scholar and professor at the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad, Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi (393–476 AH / 1003–1083 CE) .
Overview and Contents
The work was composed as a concise and accessible primer delineating the rules, sources, and interpretive principles of Shafi'i legal theory . In it, al-Shirazi systematically addresses the essential themes of usul al-fiqh, including the textual sources of Islamic law, linguistic definitions and imperative forms, textual generalities and particularities (al-amr wa-l-nahy, al-amm wa-l-khass), consensus (al-ijma), analogical reasoning (al-qiyas), and the principles governing independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) . The book forms part of al-Shirazi's influential corpus on legal methodology alongside his other works such as al-Tabsirah fi Usul al-Fiqh and al-Mulakhkhas .
Commentaries and Reception
Owing to its structured formulation, al-Luma became a standard pedagogical text that attracted extensive scholarly attention and several commentaries:
- Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi himself authored an expansive commentary titled Sharh al-Luma to elucidate its textual arguments and thematic points .
- Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi (d. 533 AH) began a commentary on the text but did not bring it to completion .
- Kamal al-Din Mas'ud ibn Ali al-Farri al-'Ansi al-Yamani (d. 604 AH) wrote a commentary on the work .
- Musa ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Yamani (d. 620 AH) authored a commentary .
- Diya' al-Din Abu 'Amr 'Uthman ibn 'Isa al-Hadhbani al-Kurdiy (d. 622 AH) compiled a commentary spanning two volumes .
- Ahmad ibn Muqbil ibn 'Uthman al-'Alhi al-'Adani (d. 630 AH) wrote Sharh Mushkil al-Luma, addressing the challenging passages and intricacies of the treatise .
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