al-Majmu Sharh al-Muhadhdhab
- Author died
- 676 AH
- Editions
- T al-Muniriyya
al-Majmu' Sharh al-Muhadhdhab (The Compendium: Commentary on al-Muhadhdhab) is an extensive legal commentary on Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi’s (d. 476 AH / 1083 CE) foundational Shafi'i text al-Muhadhdhab, composed by the Shafi'i jurist and hadith master Abu Zakariyya Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE) . It serves as one of the most comprehensive references for Shafi'i jurisprudence and comparative Islamic law across different legal schools .
Composition and Purpose
In his introduction, al-Nawawi explained that among the books widely studied and taught by Shafi'i jurists, al-Muhadhdhab and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s al-Wasit held preeminent status . He decided to write a comprehensive commentary on al-Muhadhdhab to clarify its legal rulings, resolve difficult issues, correct misattributions, and evaluate the authenticity of its cited hadiths .
al-Nawawi initially drafted the work in exhaustive detail, completing three large volumes before finishing the chapter on ritual menstruation (bab al-hayd) . Fearing that continuing at such length would make the book unwieldy and limit its readership, he modified his approach to a balanced style between burdensome length and excessive brevity . He stated that although titled a commentary on al-Muhadhdhab, the work was designed as an exposition of the entire Shafi'i school and the doctrines of the wider scholarly community, alongside hadith criticism, linguistics, biography, and history .
Method and Structure
al-Nawawi structured his commentary by addressing legal issues in clear language while integrating derived sub-branches (furu'), legal maxims (qawa'id), and supplementary rulings (tatimmat) . His method includes:
- School doctrine and verification: Determining points of consensus and divergence among Shafi'i authorities, explicitly identifying the relied-upon (al-mu'tamad) and predominant (al-rajih) opinions, and tracing statements to earlier and later authorities, as well as to al-Shafi'i’s direct works such as Kitab al-Umm, al-Mukhtasar, and al-Buwayti . Widespread positions are mentioned without naming individual speakers to avoid lengthening the text, whereas rare or anomalous opinions are attributed directly to their proponents .
- Comparative jurisprudence: Documenting the positions of the Companions, the Successors, and leading mujtahid imams, surveying their arguments, and weighing conflicting opinions .
- Hadith criticism: Grading prophetic reports (rigorously authenticated, fair, weak, mursal, disconnected, defective, or forged), analyzing chains of transmission (asānīd) and narrators, extracting text variants from canonical collections, and reconciling seemingly conflicting narrations .
- Linguistic and biographical notes: Defining specialized legal terminology, vocalizing proper names to prevent misreadings, and providing brief biographical notices for jurists and narrators .
Scope and Continuations
al-Nawawi died before finishing the work; his original portion reached the chapter on usury (bab al-riba / kitab al-riba), comprising nine volumes . Following his death, several scholars undertook continuations (takmilah) to complete the commentary on al-Muhadhdhab:
- Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756 AH / 1355 CE) took up the continuation and completed three volumes before passing away .
- Later scholars from Hadramawt and Iraq also authored continuations to the work .
- In the modern period, Shaykh Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i (also edited/completed with Muhammad Najib al-Muti'i) authored the remaining sections, bringing the complete printed work to twenty volumes .
Reception
The work is considered one of the highest achievements of Islamic legal literature. Ibn Kathir wrote that had al-Nawawi completed it, it would have had no peer in its field, praising his mastery of comparative fiqh, hadith verification, linguistics, and legal criticism, stating: "I do not know of anything better than it among books of fiqh" . Later scholars frequently juxtaposed al-Majmu' with Ibn Qudamah’s Hanbali compendium al-Mughni as the two broad reference works representing the pinnacle of comparative fiqh, legal reasoning, and hadith-based legal proofs .
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