Badhl al-Majhud fi Tahrir As'ilat Taghyir al-Nuqud
- Author died
- 1004 AH
- Editions
- Al-Quds University
Badhl al-Majhud fi Tahrir As'ilat Taghyir al-Nuqud (Exerting Effort in Clarifying the Questions of Monetary Changes) is a legal treatise on monetary jurisprudence in the Hanafi school by the Palestinian jurist al-Khatib al-Tumurtashi (d. 1004 AH / 1596 CE) .
Background and Purpose
Al-Tumurtashi composed the treatise in response to widespread inquiries (istifta') concerning transactions conducted by merchants in the Levant (al-Diyar al-Shamiyya) using prevailing coins, specifically the shwahi and sharafiyyat currencies . Following an imperial decree issued by the Ottoman sultan (identified by the editor as Murad III), some of these coins slumped into disuse (kasad) while others suffered a reduction in official value, generating disputes among contemporary jurists over debt settlement . Scholars differed between enforcing repayment of the exact nominal sum according to the doctrine of Abu Hanifa or demanding the equivalent value in gold on the day of receipt based on the position of Abu Yusuf, particularly regarding religious endowment (waqf) properties in Jerusalem and surrounding regions .
Contents and Legal Method
The treatise focuses on the legal status of transactions conducted with conventional currencies (al-nuqud al-istilahiyya), which include heavily adulterated silver dirhams and copper coins (fulus) whose monetary status is derived from mutual convention rather than intrinsic precious-metal value . Al-Tumurtashi clarifies the legal rulings when such currencies suffer depreciation, recession (kasad), or complete withdrawal from circulation (inqita') before delivery :
- Under Abu Hanifa's view, the sale is rendered void (batil) because the currency's moneyness ceased, leaving the contract without a valid price .
- Under the view of Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, the sale is not invalidated; instead, the monetary value is owed—assessed on the day of the transaction according to Abu Yusuf, or on the day of recession (the last day the currency circulated) according to al-Shaybani .
Despite its brevity—spanning approximately two large manuscript folios—the author synthesized the rulings across more than twenty authoritative Hanafi legal sources to establish the school's verified position .
Reception
The treatise was relied upon and cited by later Hanafi authorities. Ibn Abidin quoted and summarized most of its text in his legal compendium Radd al-Muhtar 'ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar as well as in his specialized treatise Tanbih al-Ruqud 'ala Masa'il al-Nuqud (where he referred to it under the variant title Badhl al-Majhud fi Mas'alat Taghyir al-Nuqud) . It is also listed among al-Tumurtashi's writings in biographical dictionaries such as Khulasat al-Athar by al-Muhibbi, Hadiyyat al-Arifin by Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi, and al-A'lam by Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli .
Manuscripts and Publication
A primary manuscript copy of the treatise is preserved within a composite volume (majmu', folios 188b–190a) in the library of Shaykh Badr al-Khatib in Jerusalem (MS 25), with a photographic copy archived at the Foundation for the Revival of Islamic Heritage and Research under the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf (MS 191/3/M8) . This copy was written in naskh script by the scribe Umar ibn Uthman ibn Umar ibn Ali in 1151 AH .
The text was edited and published with an academic study and commentary by Husam al-Din ibn Musa 'Afana in Jerusalem in 1422 AH / 2001 CE .
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