al-Wuquf wa al-Tarajjul - min al-Jami li al-Khallal
- Author died
- 311 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya
al-Wuquf wa al-Tarajjul (Arabic: الوقوف والترجل - من «الجامع» للخلال) is a surviving thematic section of the comprehensive legal compendium al-Jami‘ by the Hanbali jurist and traditionist Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311 AH / 923 CE), recording the legal opinions, rulings, and narrations of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) concerning endowments (wuquf) and personal grooming (tarajjul) .
Background and Context
The text originally formed part of al-Khallal's multi-volume work al-Jami‘ li-Masa’il al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (also known as al-Jami‘ li-‘Ulum al-Imam Ahmad), a major early compilation in which al-Khallal assembled the scattered legal responsa (masa’il) of Ahmad ibn Hanbal by traveling extensively across regions such as Syria, Fars, and al-Jazira to collect transmissions directly from Ahmad's students . While much of al-Jami‘ has not survived in its entirety, several distinct thematic portions, including al-Wuquf wa al-Tarajjul, were preserved across manuscript traditions .
Contents and Structure
The work comprises two distinct legal treatises:
-
Kitab al-Wuquf (The Book of Endowments): This section addresses the legal establishment and validity of charitable trusts and endowments (waqf or habs) . It opens with chapters affirming the legitimacy of endowments in Islamic law and refuting early dissenting opinions, such as the statement attributed to Shurayh al-Qadi denying the binding nature of trusts . It records Ahmad ibn Hanbal's answers regarding family endowments (waqf ‘ala al-awlad), conditions stipulated by donors, the irrevocability and non-saleability of endowed properties, bequests (wasaya), and endowments of land, mosques, and copies of the Quran .
-
Kitab al-Tarajjul (The Book of Grooming): This section gathers Ahmad ibn Hanbal's transmissions and verdicts regarding bodily cleanliness, appearance, and the innate sunnah practices (sunan al-fitrah) . Its chapters cover descriptions of the Prophet's ﷺ hair, the parting of hair, rulings on shaving the head, trimming the mustache, letting the beard grow (i‘fa’ al-lihyah), dyeing gray hair (khidab) along with the disapproval of using black dye, plucking armpit hair, shaving pubic hair, circumcision (khitan), uneven shaving of children's hair (qaza‘), hair rulings specific to women, and the use of perfumes and kohl .
Method
Al-Khallal organizes the transmitted material under topical chapter headings (abwab) . Under each heading, he presents the texts sequentially with full chains of transmission (asānīd) connecting back to Ahmad ibn Hanbal through his direct companions and students, including Salih ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi, Abu Bakr al-Athram, Harb ibn Isma'il al-Kirmani, and Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Hani' . Al-Khallal restricts his compilation strictly to Ahmad's statements and verdicts without interweaving non-Hanbali rulings or external commentary, modeling the structure on hadith-based topical works .
Publication
A printed edition of al-Wuquf wa al-Tarajjul was edited by Sayyid Kasrawi Hasan and published in a single volume by Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah in Beirut (1415 AH / 1994 CE) .
Answer updated