al-Masalik fi Sharh Muwatta Malik
- Author died
- 543 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī
al-Masalik fi Sharh Muwatta Malik (The Pathways in Commenting on Malik's Muwatta) is an extensive commentary on the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas composed by the Andalusian Maliki jurist and scholar Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi (468–543 AH / 1076–1148 CE) .
Purpose and Relationship to Other Works
The book is based on the Muwatta recension of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi . In it, Ibn al-Arabi addressed areas he believed earlier commentators had overlooked; while he noted that Abu al-Walid al-Baji had dealt comprehensively with legal rulings in his commentary, he observed that al-Baji had neglected much of the hadith sciences contained within the Muwatta .
The work incorporates most of the material from Ibn al-Arabi's other commentary on the Muwatta, al-Qabas fi Sharh Muwatta Malik ibn Anas, while adding extensive supplementary discussions . While al-Qabas consists of dictations providing thematic explanations of chapters—often selecting a single representative narration when multiple reports shared the same outcome—al-Masalik follows the traditions narration by narration, examining individual wordings, textual meanings, and legal rulings, while drawing on the heritage of earlier scholars such as al-Buni, al-Qanaza'i, al-Baji, and Ibn Abd al-Barr .
Structure and Method
The work opens with introductory sections :
- The second introduction was designed to refute the rejection of analogical reasoning (qiyas) by the Zahirite followers of Ibn Hazm, although surviving manuscripts uniformly omit this section .
- The third introduction covers the principles of hadith sciences, addressing the knowledge of reports, the acceptance of solitary narrations transmitted by upright authorities (khabar al-wahid al-'adl), the distinctions between disconnected (mursal) and connected (musnad) transmissions, between stopped-chain (mawquf), elevated (marfu'), and unattributed reports (balagh), as well as methods of transmission such as direct audition (riwaya), licensing (ijaza), handing over texts (munawala), and the distinction between the transmission terms haddathana and akhbarana .
Ibn al-Arabi proceeds through the chapters of Yahya's recension in order . He typically begins each entry by analyzing the chain of transmission (isnad); where a narration appears interrupted, he provides its connected chains—either through Malik or other routes—drawing on the narrations of reliable transmitters to demonstrate the authenticity and stature of the Muwatta's reports . He then analyzes textual meanings, legal rulings implied by apparent phrasings, scholarly interpretations, and instances of abrogation (al-nasikh wa-al-mansukh) . He also incorporates lexical explanations for uncommon terms (gharib), drawing on prominent linguists such as al-Khalil ibn Ahmad and Ibn al-Sikkit .
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscripts of the text preserve varying formulations of the title across their folios and title pages, including Kitab al-Masalik 'ala Muwatta Malik (found on the front of an early copy at al-Zawiya al-Hamzawiyya dated 579 AH), al-Masalik fi Sharh Muwatta Abi Abd Allah Malik, al-Masalik Sharh Muwatta Malik, and Tartib al-Masalik 'ala Muwatta al-Imam Malik .
The complete text was edited by Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Sulaymani and 'A'isha bint al-Husayn al-Sulaymani, with an introduction by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and published in seven volumes by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami in Beirut (1428 AH / 2007 CE) .
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