Fatawa wa Masa'il (matbu' dimn Muallafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-juz al-rabi)
- Author died
- 1206 AH
- Editions
- Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University
Fatawa wa Masa'il (Fatwas and Legal Inquiries) is a compilation of juridical answers, legal rulings, and doctrinal clarifications by the Najdi scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1115–1206 AH / 1703–1792 CE) . The text brings together his rulings on creed, Quranic interpretation, and standard branches of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) .
Compilation and Textual Sources
The material assembled under the title Fatawa wa Masa'il was compiled from multiple historical manuscripts and early records of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s correspondence and legal queries . A substantial portion of the initial section of the work (spanning up to page 92 of the edited edition) derives directly from the historical chronicle of Husayn ibn Ghannam, Tarikh Ibn Ghannam (also known as Rawdat al-Afkar) .
In preparing modern verified versions, editors collated these historical accounts with surviving manuscripts, including a manuscript preserved in the library of Ibn Murshid, alongside earlier printed transmissions such as those associated with Aba Butayn, al-Mustafawiyyah, and modern editions supervised by scholarly editors .
Structure and Content
The collection opens with theological inquiries and exegesis, beginning with an explanation of Quranic verses in Surah Hud concerning those who seek only worldly reward for their actions . It proceeds to address foundational matters concerning the boundaries of faith, responses to questions posed by contemporary regional leaders—such as the Sharif of Mecca—regarding what warranted military conflict and declarations of unbelief (takfir), and defenses against accusations of blanket excommunication (al-takfir bi-l-'umum) .
The latter sections transition into detailed legal questions arranged according to classical fiqh subjects, including:
- Acts of Worship ('Ibadat): Rulings on purity, the call to prayer (adhan), prayer prerequisites, rain prayers (istisqa'), fasts (sawm), and zakat on produce, currency, and livestock .
- Transactions and Contracts (Mu'amalat): Rules governing commercial contracts, forward buying (salam) of dates, debt refinancing, options in sales (khiyar), preemption (shuf'ah), and the slaughter of animals .
- Family Law and Judiciary: Inquiries concerning divorce (talaq), annulment (khul'), the validity of testimonies (shahadat) involving women and sole witnesses, and the administration of wills (wasaya) and endowments (awqaf) .
The text ends with rulings on the admissibility of women's testimonies in financial and private matters .
Publication
The work was edited and published as part of the fourth volume of the complete works (Mu'allafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) under the auspices of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, as part of an institutional effort to collect, document, and authenticate his corpus . The edition of the collected writings was reviewed and prepared for publication by Abd al-Aziz Zayd al-Rumi, Muhammad Biltaji, and Sayyid Hijab . Substantial parts of its legal fatwas are also cited across other Najdi compendia, such as Al-Durar al-Saniyyah and Majmu'at al-Rasa'il wa-l-Masa'il al-Najdiyyah .
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