al-Siyar al-Saghir - min al-Asl li-Muhammad ibn al-Hasan
- Author died
- 189 AH
- Editions
- t. Khadduri
al-Siyar al-Saghir (The Shorter Book of International Law) is a foundational legal treatise on the law of war, peace, and foreign relations by the Hanafi jurist Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani (132–189 AH / 749–805 CE), preserved as a distinct section within his expansive legal compendium al-Asl (also known as al-Mabsut) .
Background and Status
al-Siyar al-Saghir is classified within the Hanafi school as one of the works of Zahir al-Riwayah (the primary, authoritatively transmitted texts representing the definitive doctrine of Abu Hanifah and his companions) . Al-Shaybani narrated the material from Abu Hanifah and read it to Abu Yusuf to confirm the accuracy of its texts and legal attributions .
According to an account cited by al-Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH), a copy of al-Siyar al-Saghir reached the Syrian jurist al-Awza'i (d. 157 AH), who questioned why scholars of Iraq would write on siyar when the military campaigns (maghazi) of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions had occurred in the regions of the Hijaz and Syria rather than Iraq . When al-Shaybani learned of this reaction, he was prompted to author his later and more exhaustive work, al-Siyar al-Kabir .
Subject Matter and Scope
The term siyar (plural of sirah) refers to the conduct and policies of Muslims in external and internal relations . As expounded in Hanafi jurisprudence, the work regulates Muslim legal relations across multiple categories:
- Belligerent non-Muslims in enemy territory (ahl al-harb)
- Non-Muslims holding temporary safe-conduct (al-musta'minun) and permanent non-Muslim subjects (ahl al-dhimmah)
- Apostates (al-murtaddun)
- Rebels and insurgents (ahl al-baghy)
Substantively, it addresses the legal rulings governing armed conflict (jihad), treaties, diplomatic envoys, quarter and safe-conduct (aman), the distribution of spoils, the status of captives, and the regulation of hostilities .
Transmission and Commentaries
The text of al-Siyar al-Saghir was transmitted as part of al-Asl through scholars such as Abu Sulayman al-Juzjani . The 4th-century jurist al-Hakim al-Shahid (d. 334 AH) incorporated its text in full into his legal summary al-Kafi, which condensed the Zahir al-Riwayah works . Al-Sarakhsi later wrote an extensive legal commentary on it within the Kitab al-Siyar section of his monumental work al-Mabsut .
Editions and Translations
In modern times, al-Siyar al-Saghir has been edited and published both independently and within editions of al-Asl:
- An independent edition edited by Majid Khadduri was published in Beirut in 1975, based on manuscripts of al-Asl .
- A critical edition based on eleven manuscripts, accompanied by an English translation and study by Mahmud Ahmad Ghazi, was published in 1998 by the Islamic Research Institute at the International Islamic University in Islamabad .
- It is also published as part of comprehensive editions of al-Asl, such as the edition edited by Mehmet Boynukalın .
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