al-Waraqat
- Author died
- 478 AH
- Editions
- Dr. Abd al-Latif Muhammad al-Abd
Al-Waraqat (al-Waraqāt fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh, "The Leaves on the Principles of Jurisprudence") is an introductory treatise on Islamic legal theory by the Shafi'i jurist and Ash'ari theologian Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni (419–478 AH / 1028–1085 CE), known as Imam al-Haramayn. Designed as a foundational primer for beginners, it outlines the basic terminology, classifications, and methodologies of uṣūl al-fiqh.
Scope and Structure
The book derives its title from its opening statement: "These are a few leaves containing knowledge of chapters from the principles of jurisprudence" (hādhihi waraqāt tashtamilu ʿalā maʿrifat fuṣūl min uṣūl al-fiqh). Al-Juwayni composed it in a concise format to introduce novice students to the core definitions of legal theory without extraneous technical elaboration.
The text begins with a conceptual introduction defining the compound term uṣūl al-fiqh as well as its individual constituents: aṣl (basis or root), farʿ (branch), and fiqh (jurisprudence). It then delineates the seven categories of legal rulings (al-aḥkām): the obligatory (al-wājib), recommended (al-mandūb), permissible (al-mubāḥ), prohibited (al-maḥẓūr), disliked (al-makrūh), valid (al-ṣaḥīḥ), and invalid (al-bāṭil), followed by distinctions between knowledge (ʿilm), conjecture (ẓann), and doubt (shakk).
Following the introductory section, the work is organized into chapters addressing the primary topics of legal methodology:
- Types of speech (aqsām al-kalām)
- Commands (al-amr) and prohibitions (al-nahy)
- General and specific expressions (al-ʿāmm wa-l-khāṣṣ)
- Ambiguous and clarified texts (al-mujmal wa-l-mubayyan)
- Apparent and figurative or reinterpreted meanings (al-ẓāhir wa-l-muʾawwal)
- Actions of the Prophet (al-afʿāl)
- Abrogating and abrogated texts (al-nāsikh wa-l-mansūkh)
- Scholarly consensus (al-ijmāʿ)
- Transmitted reports (al-akhbār)
- Legal analogy (al-qiyās)
- Original prohibition and permissibility (al-ḥaẓr wa-l-ibāḥah)
- Hierarchy and reconciliation of legal proofs (tartīb al-adilla)
- Qualifications of the jurist delivering fatwas and the petitioner (ṣifat al-muftī wa-l-mustaftī)
- Rules governing independent legal reasoning and emulation (aḥkām al-mujtahidīn, ijtihād, and taqlīd).
Reception and Scholarly Attention
Al-Waraqat gained widespread acceptance and became an entry-level standard across various traditional curricula, memorized and taught to early students of Islamic law. Scholars across multiple legal schools produced dozens of commentaries, supercommentaries, and versifications based on its text.
Commentaries
Prominent commentaries on al-Waraqat include:
- A commentary by Ibn al-Salah (d. 643 AH).
- Sharḥ al-Waraqāt by Taj al-Din Ibn al-Firkah (Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari, d. 690 AH).
- Sharḥ al-Waraqāt by Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864 AH), an influential concise running commentary. Al-Mahalli's work became the subject of extensive supercommentaries (ḥawāshī), such as those by Ahmad al-Qalyubi (d. 1069 AH), Ahmad al-Sinbatti, Ahmad al-Damyati, Muhammad ibn ʿIbadah al-ʿAdawi, and Ahmad ibn Qasim al-ʿUbbadi (d. 992 AH), who wrote both an expansive and a concise gloss.
- Al-Anjum al-Zāhirāt ʿalā Ḥall Alfāẓ al-Waraqāt by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Mardini (d. 871 AH).
- A commentary by Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad (Ibn Imam al-Kamiliyya, d. 874 AH).
- A commentary by the Hanafi jurist Qasim ibn Qutlubugha (d. 879 AH).
- Al-Taḥqīqāt fī Sharḥ al-Waraqāt by Husayn ibn Ahmad al-Kaylani (Ibn Qawan, d. 889 AH).
- Ghāyat al-Marām fī Sharḥ Muqaddimat al-Imām by Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakari al-Tilimsani (d. 900 AH).
- Qurrat al-ʿAyn bi-Sharḥ Waraqāt Imām al-Ḥaramayn by the Maliki scholar Muhammad al-Hattab al-Ruʿayni (d. 954 AH).
- Ghāyat al-Maʾmūl fī Sharḥ Waraqāt al-Uṣūl by Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Hamza al-Ramli.
- Three commentaries by Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn al-Mulla al-Halabi (d. ca. 1030 AH): the extensive Jāmiʿ al-Mutafarriqāt min Fawāʾid al-Waraqāt, the intermediate al-Taḥārīr al-Mulḥaqāt, and the concise Kifāyat al-Ruqāt.
Versifications
To facilitate memorization, scholars rendered al-Waraqat into didactic poetry:
- Tashīl al-Ṭuruqāt fī Naẓm al-Waraqāt by Sharaf al-Din al-Imriti (d. 890 AH), a widely circulated poem of 211 verses. This versification was itself commented upon by scholars, including Abd al-Hamid Quds (d. 1335 AH) in Laṭāʾif al-Ishārāt.
- Al-Durar al-Muḍīʾāt fī Naẓm al-Waraqāt (also known as al-Durar al-Miṣriyyāt) by al-Kamal Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sharif (d. 906 AH).
- Sullam al-Wuṣūl by Abd al-Rahman al-Disi al-Busa'adi, comprising 99 verses.
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