Fasl al-Maqal fi Hadaya al-Ummal
- Author died
- 756 AH
- Editions
- Dar Asfar
Fasl al-Maqal fi Hadaya al-Ummal (The Decisive Discourse on Gifts to State Officials) is a specialized legal treatise on the jurisprudence of gifts given to rulers, judges, and public officials, authored by the Shafi'i jurist and chief judge Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756 AH / 1355 CE) .
Background and Composition
In 707 AH (1307–1308 CE), during al-Subki's journey to the Levant, a sharp controversy arose among jurists in Egypt regarding gifts given to prominent Mamluk amirs, specifically Baybars al-Jashnakir and Salar, and whether such gifts were lawful or prohibited . The Shafi'i scholar 'Izz al-Din al-Namrawi issued a fatwa declaring them forbidden, a position endorsed by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Jawzi al-Khatib and Najm al-Din al-Husayn ibn 'Ali ibn Sayyid al-Kull al-Aswani, citing the hadith هدايا العمال غلول ("Gifts given to state officials are illicit misappropriation") as well as the standard rule barring judges from accepting gifts from anyone without prior gifting customs . In contrast, the Shafi'i chief judge Badr al-Din Ibn Jama'ah issued a ruling permitting them and wrote a brief treatise to that effect . Meanwhile, al-Subki's teacher Ibn al-Rif'ah categorized them as gifts given in expectation of an equivalent return (hibat thawab), arguing they were licit provided some compensation was given, even something minor like a chicken .
Al-Subki disapproved of both the blanket permissibility and Ibn al-Rif'ah's rationale . Later, when commenting on the verse أَمْ تَسْئَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُمْ مِنْ مَغْرَمٍ مُثْقَلُونَ ("Or do you ask them for a payment, so they are heavily burdened with debt?") in his Quranic exegesis al-Durr al-Nazim fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, he analyzed the judicial office and the probity required of judges; realizing that the necessary legal elaboration exceeded the scope of an exegesis, he composed this standalone work to treat the matter comprehensively .
Structure and Method
Al-Subki divided the treatise into eight chapters (fusul) :
- The first chapter records the relevant prophetic traditions, transmitting nine hadiths with their full chains of transmission (asanid) to their compilers and evaluating their authenticity, including one narration on bribery (rishwah) .
- The second chapter analyzes the rulings on gifts presented to judges according to the Shafi'i school, providing extensive textual transmissions and evaluations of earlier Shafi'i jurists .
- Subsequent chapters examine the rulings across the other Sunni legal schools, dedicating a separate chapter to each madhhab .
- Another chapter defines the precise distinction between a gift (hadiyyah) and a bribe (rishwah) .
- A chapter investigates the Shafi'i position on accepting gifts from non-Muslims (mushrikun) .
- The final chapter presents the conclusion and legal synthesis of the issue (zubdat al-mas'alah) .
Abridgment and Reception
Al-Subki produced an abridgment of the work titled Mukhtasar Fasl al-Maqal fi Hadaya al-Ummal, arranged into two chapters: one on hadiths and one on legal rulings; this summary was later published within Fatawa al-Subki .
The treatise was praised by his son Taj al-Din al-Subki in Mu'id al-Ni'am wa Mubid al-Niqam, where he listed it among his father's finest works and noted its valuable legal insights . It was also documented by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in Husn al-Muhadarah . Later scholars cited passages directly from the text, including al-Murtada al-Zabidi in Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin and 'Abd al-Hamid al-Sharwani in his supercommentary on Tuhfat al-Muhtaj . In Kashf al-Zunun, Haji Khalifa recorded the work, though a scribal misspelling generated an unintended duplicate entry under Qufl al-Maqal .
The text was edited as a master's thesis at the Higher Judicial Institute of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and published by Dar Asfar in 2019 .
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