al-Uqud al-Durriyya fi Qawl al-Waqif ala al-Farida al-Shariyya
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- T Istanbul
al-Uqud al-Durriyya fi Qawl al-Waqif ala al-Farida al-Shariyya ("The Brilliant Necklaces Regarding the Founder's Statement: 'According to the Shar'i Statutory Share'") is a legal treatise on endowment (Waqf) jurisprudence in the Hanafi school by the Damascene jurist Ibn Abidin (1198–1252 AH / 1784–1836 CE).
Background and Purpose
Ibn Abidin composed the treatise—recorded in manuscripts as completed in 1230 AH (1815 CE)—to address a recurring legal inquiry regarding endowment deeds (sukuk al-waqf). The question concerned the legal meaning of an endowment founder's stipulation that revenue be divided among beneficiaries "according to the Shar'i statutory share" (ala al-farida al-shar'iyya), specifically whether this clause mandates unequal distribution giving male descendants twice the share of females (al-mufadala) or equal division between them (al-qisma bi-l-sawiyya).
The author noted in his introduction that later jurists had diverged in their legal responsa on this matter because no explicit textual ruling (nass) had been transmitted from the early authorities of the Hanafi school. The former mufti of Damascus, Yahya ibn al-Minqar, had previously authored a monograph on the topic titled al-Risala al-Mardiyya fi al-Farida al-Shar'iyya, which gained the approval of several contemporaries while drawing disagreement from others. Ibn Abidin set out to review and synthesize the arguments of both groups and provide a reasoned resolution.
Legal Content and Method
In the treatise, and in his subsequent summary of it in his major commentary Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Ibn Abidin concludes that when a founder uses the phrase without further qualification, it must be interpreted as giving males twice the share of females. He grounds this determination in three primary arguments:
- Textual Precedent in Waqf Law: He cites the classical Hanafi reference al-Fatawa al-Zahiriyya, which distinguishes between ordinary gift (hiba) and endowment, advising that drafting a waqf deed to allocate two shares for a male and one for a female is "closer to correctness and more conducive to reward" (aqrab ila al-sawab wa-ajlab li-l-thawab).
- Customary Usage (Urf): Legal theorists establish that prevailing custom serves to specify general expressions, and customary usage among both scholars and the general public consistently understands "the Shar'i statutory share" as referring to the inheritance ratio of two to one.
- Founder's Intent (Gharad al-Waqif): Honoring and maintaining the intent of the endowment founder is legally binding in the school.
Reception and Publication
The work is counted among Ibn Abidin's thirty-two specialized treatises and has been printed in collected editions of his monographs (Majmu'at Rasa'il Ibn Abidin), including early printings in Damascus (1301 AH / 1884 CE) and Istanbul (1325 AH / 1907 CE). In some bibliographical listings and editions, the title appears with the variant wording al-Uqud al-Durriyya fi Qawlihim ala al-Farida al-Shar'iyya.
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