al-Mukhtasar al-Saghir li-Ibn Abd al-Hakam «Khilafiyat fi al-Fiqh»
- Author died
- 214 AH
- Editions
- Dar Ibn al-Qayyim lil-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
al-Mukhtasar al-Saghir (The Small Compendium), also known on its surviving manuscript title page as Khilafiyat fi al-Fiqh (Disputed Issues in Jurisprudence), is an early Maliki legal compendium by the Egyptian jurist Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 214 AH / 829–830 CE), expanded through transmissions into a manual of comparative Islamic jurisprudence .
Composition and Transmission
Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam authored three legal compendia of graded lengths: al-Mukhtasar al-Kabir (the Large Compendium), al-Mukhtasar al-Awsat (the Medium Compendium), and al-Mukhtasar al-Saghir . Ibn Abd al-Barr noted that the author condensed the transmissions he heard regarding the legal views of Malik ibn Anas via Abd Allah ibn Wahb, Ibn al-Qasim, and Ashhab ibn Abd al-Aziz, and subsequently abridged that into this small treatise . According to Qadi Iyad, the compendia of Ibn Abd al-Hakam ranked third in prominence among Maliki works after Malik's al-Muwatta and Sahnun's al-Mudawwana, with the Maliki scholars of Baghdad relying heavily on them for teaching . Qadi Iyad also recorded that al-Mukhtasar al-Saghir comprises around 1,200 legal questions .
The text was expanded beyond its initial Maliki core by two of Ibn Abd al-Hakam's students :
- His son, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 268 AH / 881–882 CE), supplemented the work with the divergent opinions of Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i .
- The transmitter of this redaction, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Barqi (d. 249 AH / 863–864 CE), combined the earlier additions and incorporated the contrasting rulings of other early authorities, including Sufyan al-Thawri, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, al-Awza'i, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
Method and Structure
The work presents legal rulings in concise wording . In al-Barqi's recension, the primary ruling of Ibn Abd al-Hakam is stated first, immediately followed by the divergent opinions of other jurists, focusing on areas of disagreement (ikhtilaf) rather than consensus . The author rarely quotes textual proofs with explicit attribution to the Prophet ﷺ or Companions, though paraphrased hadiths and reports appear across sections, particularly in the concluding chapter Jami al-Sunuf .
The structure features several organizational idiosyncrasies:
- Rulings on making up missed prayers and prayers during travel are integrated into the chapter on forgetfulness (sahw) .
- Discussions on nosebleeds, prayer places, the Witr prayer, the two rak'ahs of Fajr, and the nocturnal prayers of Ramadan are merged into the chapter on ritual impurity occurring during prayer (idha ahdatha al-imam) .
- The laws of manumission (itq) are merged into the chapter on contract-based emancipation (mukataba) .
- The rules of fosterage (rida') are placed at the end of the treatise following bequests (wasiyyah), and the text omits an independent chapter on inheritance shares (mawarith) .
Preservation and Publication
The work was long presumed lost until its rediscovery in a single complete manuscript preserved at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 966, comprising 85 folios) . This copy was transcribed on Wednesday, 2 Safar 718 AH, by Muhammad ibn Ilyas ibn Ibrahim, the preacher of Ayn al-Zaytun . The text was edited from this unique manuscript by Umar Ali Abu Bakr Zaria and published under the title al-Mukhtasar al-Saghir li-Ibn Abd al-Hakam: Khilafiyat fi al-Fiqh .
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