al-Muttali ala Alfaz al-Muqni
- Author died
- 709 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Sawādī lil-Tawzīʻ
Al-Muttaliʿ ʿalā Alfāẓ al-Muqniʿ (also known as al-Muttaliʿ ʿalā Abwāb al-Muqniʿ) is a specialized legal and linguistic glossary of Hanbali jurisprudence by the grammarian and jurist Ibn Abi al-Fath al-Ba'li (d. 709 AH / 1309 CE) . The work is dedicated to clarifying and defining the obscure vocabulary, linguistic formulations, and technical legal terminology found in al-Muqni, the famous legal manual by Ibn Qudama (d. 620 AH) .
Purpose and Scope
The author composed the work as a concise manual to resolve difficult terms and linguistic obscurities occurring in the text of al-Muqni . While some early printed descriptions mistakenly identified it as a general legal commentary on al-Muqni, scholars such as Ibn Badran clarified that it is strictly a glossary of its vocabulary, occupying the same rank in Hanbali literature as al-Mutarrizi's al-Mughrib in the Hanafi school and al-Fayyumi's al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr in the Shafi'i school . In preparing his explanations, al-Baʿlī relied directly on an authoritative manuscript of al-Muqni traced back to its author, having studied the text under teachers who read it with Ibn Qudāmah .
Structure and Method
Rather than following an alphabetical dictionary arrangement, the book is structured according to the original sequence of books, chapters, and sections of al-Muqni . For each chapter, al-Baʿlī identifies individual and compound legal and linguistic terms, defines their meanings, and clarifies their proper grammatical inflection (iʿrāb) whenever mispronunciation or error is common . Terms tied to specific legal headings—such as ritual washing (ghusl), prayer (ṣalāh), almsgiving (zakāh), pilgrimage (ḥajj), and jihād—are systematically defined at the beginning of their respective chapters .
In his linguistic analyses, al-Baʿlī frequently quotes opinions and explanations from his master, the grammarian Ibn Malik . The book concludes with a separate biographical appendix providing entries for all proper names mentioned throughout al-Muqni, opening with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and concluding with a biography of Ibn Qudāmah .
Reception and Related Works
Al-Muttaliʿ was widely praised by Hanbali jurists and scholars of the Arabic language for its linguistic rigor and precision . It was abridged by ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Baghdādī al-Zurayrānī (d. 741 AH) under the title Mukhtaṣar al-Muṭṭaliʿ . Modern editions of the book include a critical edition in one volume edited by Maḥmūd al-Arnāʾūṭ and Yāsīn Maḥmūd al-Khaṭīb, as well as an academic edition prepared by ʿAbd Rabboh ibn Mūsā al-Zahrānī and Muḥammad Turkī ʿUmar at Umm al-Qura University in 1413 AH .
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