Aqdiyat Rasul Allah
- Author died
- 497 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī
Aqdiyat Rasul Allah (The Judgments of the Messenger of Allah) is a specialized legal and hadith work compiled by the Andalusian Maliki jurist and hadith traditionist Ibn al-Talla' (404–497 AH / 1013–1104 CE) that gathers judicial verdicts, legal rulings, and disputes decided or commanded by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . The work is also known under variant titles, including Ahkam al-Nabi and Nawazil al-Ahkam al-Nabawiyya .
Composition and Purpose
Ibn al-Talla' opened the book by underscoring that anyone assuming the role of judge among people must rule solely in accordance with what God commanded in His book, what has been established from the judgments of His Messenger ﷺ, scholar consensus, or evidence derived from these three sources . He stated at the conclusion that his motivation for compiling the work arose when he encountered a small treatise on the judgments of the Prophet by Ibn Abi Shaybah, which contained only around one hundred hadiths . Ibn al-Talla' consequently set out to track down prophetic adjudications across the available literature out of devotion, love for them, and a desire to emulate the Prophet's rulings and uphold his commands and prohibitions, drawing upon thirty-four works .
Content and Structure
The book arranges prophetic legal rulings by substantive jurisprudence topics . Its chapters address diverse areas of civil and procedural law, including:
- Sharecropping (musaqah), conciliation (sulh), easements, and boundaries of date palm groves .
- Wills and testaments (wasaya), limiting bequests to one-third, and mortmain endowments (ahbas) .
- Charity, gifts (hibah), and lifetime grants (‘umra) .
- Manumission of slaves (‘itq), lots in bequests, contracts of enfranchisement (kitabah), and freeing slaves who were physically abused or slapped .
- Lost property (luqatah), deposits (wada'i‘), trusts, and guaranteed borrowed property (‘ariyah) .
- Inheritance (mawarith), the right of distant relatives (dhawu al-arham), barring the killer from inheriting, establishing paternity by the marital bed (al-walad li-l-firash), and acknowledging offspring after the father's death .
- Rulings on dogs, water reserves, commercial agency (wakalah), and diverse miscellaneous cases .
The treatise concludes with historical sections detailing the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ, the shroud used for his burial, those who washed his body and laid him in the grave, and the author's transmission chains and source materials .
Transmission and Reception
Aqdiyat Rasul Allah achieved widespread transmission among Andalusian and North African scholars . Ibn Bashkuwal noted that he studied the book under his father, who transmitted it directly from Ibn al-Talla' . Prominent scholars such as Qadi Iyad, Abu Ali al-Sadafi, and Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tamimi transmitted the work directly or through isnads linking back to the author . Later scholars of judicial norms, including Ibn Farhun, relied on it, and Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur characterized it as a comprehensive compilation of prophetic adjudications .
Manuscript Copies and Editions
Manuscripts of the work have survived in several repositories, including copies located in Tunis, Fez, and Turkish libraries such as Murad Mulla and Reisülküttab . The work has been printed in several modern editions, including publications in Cairo (1346 AH), Aleppo (1982 CE), Medina (1403 AH), and Beirut (1398 AH, 1987, and 1997 CE), including an academic edition edited by Muhammad Diya' al-Rahman al-A'zami .
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