al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa lil-Sughdi
- Author died
- 461 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa (The Pluckings of Legal Rulings), also known as Nutaf al-Fatawa, is a classical manual of Hanafi legal rulings by the Transoxanian jurist and judge Abu al-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sughdi (d. 461 AH / 1068 CE) .
Structure and Content
The work compiles branch rulings (furu') and legal responses in Hanafi jurisprudence . The text opens with the Book of Waters (Kitab al-Miyah), commencing with a division of water into absolute (mutlaq) and restricted (muqayyad) categories . It serves as a practical reference for resolving emerging legal problems and rulings (al-nawazil wa-l-waqa'i'), reflecting the author's activity in issuing fatwas and judicial administration in Bukhara .
Attribution and Reception
While commonly transmitted under al-Sughdi's name in biographical and bibliographical dictionaries, historical copies occasionally bore different attributions . The Hanafi biographer Ibn Qutlubugha recorded that manuscripts of al-Nutaf circulating in his time were also attributed to al-Ghaznawi . The legal opinions and formulations of al-Nutaf became a frequent point of reference in later Hanafi jurisprudence and were repeatedly cited across prominent fatwa compendia, notably the Fatawa of Qadikhan .
Manuscripts and Printed Editions
Manuscripts of al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa survive across several international collections, including the Topkapi Palace Library and the Esad Efendi collection in Istanbul, the Austrian National Library in Vienna, the Central Library in Jeddah, al-Azhar Library and the Alexandria Municipal Library in Egypt, as well as libraries in Calcutta .
The book has appeared in several modern scholarly printings:
- An edition in two volumes edited by Salah al-Din al-Nahi, first published in Baghdad in 1975–1976 and later reissued in Amman and Beirut in 1404 AH / 1984 CE .
- An annotated edition prepared by Muhammad Nabil al-Jasli, published in Beirut in 1417 AH / 1996 CE .
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