al-Mumti fi Sharh al-Muqni
- Author died
- 695 AH
- Editions
- t Ibn Duhaysh t 3
al-Mumti fi Sharh al-Muqni (Arabic: الممتع في شرح المقنع) is a comprehensive commentary on the Hanbali jurisprudence manual al-Muqni of Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama (d. 620 AH / 1223 CE), authored by the Damascene Hanbali jurist Abu al-Barakat Zayn al-Din al-Munajja ibn Uthman ibn Asad Ibn al-Munajja (631–695 AH / 1234–1295 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
The base text, al-Muqni, occupied a central place in Hanbali legal education, with students committing it to memory and scholars composing commentaries, marginalia, and epitomes upon it . In his preface, Ibn al-Munajja stated that he was prompted to write the commentary after observing that legal scholars and students of the Hanbali school were heavily dedicated to memorizing Ibn Qudama's work, which motivated him to clarify its meanings, explain its rulings with their supporting evidence, and verify its transmission variants .
Methodology and Structure
The commentary adheres strictly to the internal legal boundaries of the Hanbali school . Ibn al-Munajja systematically takes up the passages of al-Muqni phrase by phrase, explicating obscure vocabulary, elucidating the author's intent, and discussing the doctrinal positions (awjuh) of the Hanbali authorities .
His method is characterized by:
- Evidentiary deduction: Providing extensive rational arguments alongside textual proofs derived from the Quran and the Sunnah, attributing hadiths to well-known source collections .
- Verification and preference (tashih): Resolving the unweighted transmission variants (riwayat) and divergent opinions that Ibn Qudama typically left undecided in al-Muqni, often identifying the soundest view or citing how earlier scholars corrected them .
- Contextual harmonisation: Reconciling seemingly contradictory transmissions by assigning each to differing circumstances (for instance, harmonizing conflicting reports on the sitting of rest in prayer by interpreting one as applying to the physically weak and the other to the able-bodied) .
- Textual qualification: Qualifying or refining certain expressions of the base text, in some instances noting Ibn Qudama's own permission to make adjustments .
Reception and Scholarly Impact
al-Mumti is recognized as one of the earliest extensive commentaries composed on al-Muqni . It served as a major reference for subsequent Hanbali jurists; Ala al-Din al-Mardawi (d. 885 AH) explicitly cited it among his primary sources in al-Insaf fi Marifat al-Rajih min al-Khilaf . The book was documented by numerous biographical and bibliographic authors, including Ibn Rajab, Mujir al-Din al-Ulaymi, Burhan al-Din Ibn Muflih, and Abd al-Qadir al-Nuaymi, who noted its composition in four volumes .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript portions of al-Mumti are preserved in institutions such as the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus and Dar al-Kutub in Cairo . The complete text was critically edited from surviving manuscript witnesses by Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah ibn Duhaysh and published in Mecca, appearing first in 1417 AH / 1997 CE, followed by subsequent prints, including a four-volume third edition published in 1422 AH / 2002 CE .
Answer updated