Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
al-Nazar fi Waraqat Iqrar - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
al-Nazar fi Waraqat Iqrar (Examination of an Acknowledgment Document) is a short legal treatise written by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE), examining the jurisprudential interpretation of ambiguous expressions within a written acknowledgment of property . It is published as the thirtieth treatise in the eighteenth volume of his collected works, Athar al-Mu'allimi .
Manuscript and Context
The original text survived as an autograph draft discovered in Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki (the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca) . The manuscript spans three folios of long format, containing several authorial corrections, strikethroughs, insertions, and marginal notes . The treatise addresses a practical dispute arising from a written document that contained statements indicating an acknowledgment of shared property (iqrar bi-l-ishtirak), alongside phrasing that appeared superficially to contradict that acknowledgment .
Legal Analysis and Methodology
Al-Mu'allimi argues that the document as a whole represents an acknowledgment of joint ownership between the declarant and his brothers . He asserts that the phrases seemingly at odds with the acknowledgment are not explicit negations; rather, when weighed against the full context, the customary leniency in common parlance (tasamuh al-awamm), and the nature of the shared estate, they must be interpreted in harmony with the acknowledgment so that no part of the declarant's text is rendered void .
In his analysis of specific phrases, al-Mu'allimi addresses:
- Possessive attributions: Phrases such as "my chest" (sanduqi) or "my house" (dari) indicate specific assignment or use (ikhtisas) rather than exclusive ownership (milk), analogous to a person referring to a designated chair as "my chair" . He supports this metaphorical attribution through the Quran, noting that the Quran attributes the same residences to the Prophet ﷺ in لَا تَدْخُلُوا بُيُوتَ النَّبِيِّ (Do not enter the houses of the Prophet) and to his wives in وَاذْكُرْنَ مَا يُتْلَى فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ (And remember what is recited in your houses) .
- Ambiguous property references: General statements like "they collect what is mine in India" are construed as referring to the declarant's proportional share in the joint property rather than separate sole ownership .
- Inherited assets: Statements concerning property inherited from his mother in Hadramawt and held jointly with his brothers are interpreted as having been incorporated into the shared family estate by mutual agreement .
Methodologically, al-Mu'allimi grounds his reasoning in the Shafi'i legal school, drawing on classical references such as Minhaj al-Talibin by al-Nawawi, Tuhfat al-Muhtaj by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, the glosses of Sayyid 'Umar al-Basri, and al-Anwar . He applies the legal principle that a legally responsible person's words must be upheld and harmonized whenever possible rather than discarded as contradictory .
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