al-Siyar li Abi Ishaq al-Fazari
- Author died
- 188 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
Kitab al-Siyar (The Book of Military Expeditions and Conduct) is an early Islamic legal treatise on the law of war, jihad, and military conduct by the Kufan traditionist and frontier jurist Abu Ishaq al-Fazari (d. 185 AH / 801–802 CE; other reports state 186 AH or 188 AH) .
Subject Matter and Scope
Unlike biographical works devoted solely to the life and campaigns of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, al-Fazari's al-Siyar functions as a legal text focusing on warfare, frontier jurisprudence, and relations with non-Muslims . The treatise addresses practical legal regulations concerning conduct during military expeditions, the treatment of combatants and non-combatants, the division of spoils (ghana'im), and related rulings .
Reception and Scholarly Impact
Kitab al-Siyar was held in high regard by contemporary and later jurists:
- Al-Shafi'i praised the work, stating via al-Humaydi: "No one has composed a work on al-siyar like it" (لم يصنف أحد في السير مثله) .
- According to Abu Ya'la al-Khalili, al-Shafi'i examined al-Fazari's book, approved of it, and dictated his own treatise following its structure .
- Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah remarked regarding the author's expertise in this field: "No man ought to be more knowledgeable in al-siyar than him" .
Transmission and Extant Text
The work was preserved through several chains of transmission originating from al-Fazari's students. In his Fihrist, Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili recorded lines of transmission leading back to the author, including a transmission via Abd al-Malik ibn Habib al-Bazzaz al-Massisi (from whom Muhammad ibn Waddah narrated) and another through Mahbub ibn Musa al-Farra', who heard it from al-Fazari in Antioch in 225 AH and subsequently transmitted it to Ubayd ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Sharik al-Bazzaz in Baghdad in 276 AH . A surviving portion of the work has been edited and published in modern print .
Answer updated