Ghayat al-Matlab fi Ishtirat al-Waqif Awd al-Nasib ila Ahl al-Daraja al-Aqrab فالاقرب
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- T Istanbul
Ghayat al-Matlab fi Ishtirat al-Waqif Awd al-Nasib ila Ahl al-Daraja al-Aqrab fa-l-Aqrab ("The Utmost Aim Regarding the Founder's Stipulation That the Share Reverts to Those in the Nearest Generational Tier") is a legal treatise on endowment (waqf) law written in 1249 AH (1833 CE) by the Damascene Hanafi jurist Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH / 1836 CE) . The work examines the legal interpretation of endowment deed stipulations governing the redistribution of revenue when an entitled descendant dies without issue .
Occasion of Composition
Ibn Abidin composed the treatise at the end of Rajab 1249 AH in response to a legal inquiry sent to him from Tripoli (Tarabulus al-Sham) . The case involved an endowment clause specifying that if any beneficiary died without children, grandchildren, or descendants, their share would revert to those sharing their generational tier and class (ahl darajatihi wa-dhawi tabaqatih), giving preference to the closest relative first (al-aqrab fa-l-aqrab) .
A female beneficiary named Zaynab died childless, survived by the children of her two full sisters (Katibah and Sa'diyyah) who occupied a lower generational tier, and by paternal cousins in her own generational tier (Hawwa bint Ali and Abd al-Qadir ibn Umar) . Contemporary muftis—including Abd al-Fattah al-Naqshbandi (the mufti of Latakia), Muhammad al-Husayni al-Khalwati (the mufti of Jerusalem), Abd al-Mawla Abu al-Fawz (the mufti of Damietta), Ahmad al-Tamimi al-Khalili, Muhammad Ali al-Kilani (the mufti of Hama), and Muhammad al-Bizri (the mufti of Sidon)—followed an earlier fatwa of Khayr al-Din al-Ramli and the former mufti of Tripoli Abd Allah al-Khalili, ruling that the share passed to the sister's children because proximity in kinship (aqrabiyyah) was mentioned later in the clause and therefore superseded or abrogated the generational tier condition . Ibn Abidin wrote the treatise to refute this prevailing stance .
Legal Arguments and Analysis
Ibn Abidin argues that there is no conflict or abrogation between the two conditions in the endowment deed . According to Arabic grammar and legal hermeneutics, the phrase "the closest first" (al-aqrab fa-l-aqrab) is a restrictive specification (takhsis) explaining the general reference to those in the same tier, rather than an independent or contradictory clause . The phrase means "the closest among those of the same tier," just as the exception in the Quranic verse وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا ("And pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake the journey") specifies the general term without abrogating it .
Under this reading, if a beneficiary dies, the share must be given to the closest relative within their own generational tier (such as the paternal cousins in the dispute), while relatives in lower tiers (such as the sister's children) are excluded, even if their blood relation is closer . Ibn Abidin notes that giving the share to someone outside the specified tier disregards the explicit condition of the founder . He supports this interpretation with the earlier rulings of Damascene Hanafi muftis Muhammad al-Imadi and Hamid al-Imadi, as well as Muhammad al-Bahnasi (the commentator on Multaqa al-Abhur) .
Case of the Vacant Generational Tier
In an appended notice (tanbih), Ibn Abidin addresses a related dilemma: how to distribute the deceased's share when no one remains in the deceased's generational tier . He outlines two conflicting positions held by prior scholars:
- Reverting the share to the highest generational tier (a'la al-darajat) based on the sequential ranking implied by the particle thumma, a view endorsed by Imad al-Din al-Imadi, Shihab al-Din, Khayr al-Din al-Ramli, al-Mahmandari, Abu al-Mawahib al-Hanbali, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, and Hamid al-Imadi in one fatwa .
- Granting the share to the closest living relative in any tier, disregarding tier order to give effect to the proximity condition, a view adopted by Muhammad al-Khalili al-Shafi'i, Hasan al-Shurunbulali in his treatise al-Ibtisam, and Hamid al-Imadi in another ruling .
Ibn Abidin rejects both positions and argues that when the founder's specified condition (the presence of beneficiaries in that tier) fails entirely, the share returns to the general endowment pool (asl al-ghalla) and is divided among all existing entitled beneficiaries . He grounds this conclusion on the authoritative doctrine of Abu Bakr al-Khassaf (d. 261 AH) in Ahkam al-Awqaf and Burhan al-Din al-Tarabulusi's al-Is'af, which establish that unfulfilled stipulations cause the share to revert to the general revenues rather than an unstated specific beneficiary .
Reception and Publication
Ibn Abidin incorporated the conclusions and rulings of the treatise into his marginal commentary Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar and his work Tanqih al-Fatawa al-Hamidiyyah . The text was published in Damascus (1301 AH) and Istanbul (1325 AH) as part of Ibn Abidin's collected treatises (Majmu'at Rasail Ibn Abidin) . Manuscripts are preserved in libraries including the Zahiriyyah in Damascus and the Azhar Library in Cairo .
Answer updated