al-Madkhal li-Ibn al-Hajj
- Author died
- 737 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Turāth
al-Madkhal (Arabic: المدخل), whose full title is al-Madkhal ila Tanmiyat al-A‘mal bi-Tahsin al-Niyyat (The Introduction to Developing Deeds by Improving Intentions), is a major multi-volume treatise by the Maliki jurist Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi (d. 737 AH / 1336 CE) addressing legal manners, social customs, religious innovations, and the rectification of intentions.
Title and Composition
The book is commonly known as al-Madkhal, and appears under extended titles such as al-Madkhal ila Tanmiyat al-A‘mal bi-Tahsin al-Niyyat wa-l-Tanbih ‘ala Kathir min al-Bida‘ al-Muhdatha wa-l-‘Awa'id al-Muntahala (The Introduction to Developing Deeds by Improving Intentions and Warning Against Many Invented Innovations and Fabricated Customs) and Madkhal al-Shar‘ al-Sharif ‘ala al-Madhahib al-Arba‘a (Introduction to the Noble Sacred Law According to the Four Legal Schools). Ibn al-Hajj completed its composition in 732 AH (1332 CE).
Contents and Scope
Al-Madkhal is organized into four large volumes and begins with the phrase "Praise be to God, the Unique in Permanence" (al-hamdu li-Llah al-munfarid bi-l-dawam). The work covers a broad spectrum of religious, social, and practical affairs, aiming to guide believers in purifying their intentions across all spheres of life, from devotional practices to everyday habits.
A substantial part of the text is dedicated to cataloging and critiquing prevalent innovations (bida‘) and customs in beliefs, acts of worship, commercial transactions, and daily interactions. Among the issues Ibn al-Hajj examines in detail are funeral and burial practices, highlighting customary deviations such as irregular alignment of graves relative to the qibla, building houses around tombs, erecting tents, burning lamps and fires at gravesites, gathering for prolonged stays with cooking and drinking, and reading or writing upon tombstones.
Reception and Influence
Al-Madkhal attained significant renown in scholarly circles. The Maliki biographer Ibn Farhun praised it as a comprehensive work containing vast knowledge that scholars ought to examine. In al-Durar al-Kaminah, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani described it as a book of abundant benefit that uncovered flaws and innovations practiced and taken lightly by people, adding that most of what it criticizes is indeed reprehensible, while some matters remain open to accommodation. The work served as a primary reference for later scholars, such as Usman dan Fodio in his writings on reviving the Sunna and suppressing innovations, and inspired the Sufi scholar Ibn Ajiba to author his work Tashil al-Madkhal on intentions.
The book also drew scholarly critique. Later commentators noted that Ibn al-Hajj classified certain customary habits and acts of disobedience as religious innovations, and occasionally treated established practices as blameworthy innovations. Additionally, authors such as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Khumayyis criticized Ibn al-Hajj for permitting certain grave-visitation practices and forms of intercession (tawassul) through the Prophet ﷺ and pious figures in parts of al-Madkhal, addressing these critiques in a dedicated tract titled al-Munkhal li-Gharbalat Khurafat Ibn al-Hajj fi al-Madkhal.
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