al-Taliqa al-Kabira - Abu Yala - min al-Itikaf lil-Buyu
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Nawādir
al-Taliqa al-Kabira: min al-I'tikaf lil-Buyu' is a surviving volume of the major comparative jurisprudence treatise composed by the Hanbali jurist al-Qadi Abu Ya'la Ibn al-Farra (380–458 AH / 990–1066 CE) . Also known as al-Taliq al-Kabir fi al-Masa'il al-Khilafiyya or al-Khilaf al-Kabir, the complete work served as an exhaustive exposition of disputed legal issues (masa'il al-khilaf) between Islamic jurisprudential schools, defending the legal positions of the Hanbali school .
Title and Scope
The overarching work originally spanned eleven volumes, as referenced by Ibn Taymiyya when requesting copies during his imprisonment in Egypt . The author's son, Abu al-Husayn Ibn Abi Ya'la, cataloged it as al-Khilaf al-Kabir, while biographical and bibliographical authorities such as al-Dhahabi and Hajji Khalifa recorded it as al-Taliqa al-Kabira or al-Taliq fi al-Khilaf .
This specific section represents the fourth volume (al-Mujallad al-Rabi') of the original eleven-volume work . Its contents comprise:
- The concluding portion of the Book of Spiritual Retreat (Kitab al-I'tikaf) .
- The complete Book of Pilgrimage (Kitab al-Hajj) .
- The initial section of the Book of Sales (Kitab al-Buyu'), including the legal chapters on usury and interest (riba) .
Method and Structure
Abu Ya'la systematically structured each legal issue by stating the disputed topic, followed by the authoritative positions within the Hanbali school derived from the narrations of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the statements of his leading companions . He then identified jurists from other schools who concurred with the Hanbali view before detailing the opposing arguments of rival schools, particularly the Hanafis and Shafi'is . The discussion concludes with an extensive substantiation of the Hanbali stance through textual proofs from the Quran, Sunnah, and analogical reasoning, followed by a point-by-point rebuttal of opposing objections . Ibn Badran praised the work for its comprehensive scope, rich evidentiary hadith citations, and the author's skill in deconstructing counterarguments .
Scholarly Impact and Transmission
The treatise formed a primary reference for subsequent comparative works within the Hanbali tradition . Abu Ya'la's prominent students modeled their own works on it or abridged it, notably Abu Ali al-Barzabini in his al-Taliqa and Abu al-Khattab al-Kalwadhani in Ru'us al-Masa'il . The hadith proofs adduced by Abu Ya'la became the subject of critical evaluation by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Tahqiq fi Masa'il al-Taliq, which was later refined by Ibn Abd al-Hadi in Tanqih al-Tahqiq .
The text of this volume survived in a unique manuscript preserved in the Feyzullah Efendi collection in Turkey, titled al-Rabi' min al-Taliqa al-Kabira fi Masa'il al-Khilaf . The manuscript preserves ownership inscriptions by earlier scholars, including Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Munajja al-Tanukhi, Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Hanbali (dated 866 AH), and Feyzullah Efendi, Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire . This volume was edited by a specialist committee supervised by Nur al-Din Talib and published by Dar al-Nawadir in 2010 (1431 AH) .
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