Hashiyat al-Sawi ala al-Sharh al-Saghir = Bulghat al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik
- Author died
- 1241 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Ma'arif
Bulghat al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik (Arabic: بلغة السالك لأقرب المسالك, lit. 'The Wayfarer's Sufficiency for the Nearest of Paths'), widely known as Hashiyat al-Sawi 'ala al-Sharh al-Saghir, is a legal supercommentary on Maliki jurisprudence by the Egyptian scholar Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Sawi (1175–1241 AH / 1761–1825 CE) . It serves as an extensive gloss on al-Sharh al-Saghir, the commentary written by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Dardir (d. 1201 AH / 1786 CE) on his own foundational Maliki compendium, Aqrab al-Masalik li-Madhhab al-Imam Malik .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Sawi composed the gloss at the request of Shaykh Salih al-Siba'i, the designated successor (khalifa) of al-Dardir . Al-Siba'i asked him to produce a marginal gloss that would match the ease and accessible nature of al-Dardir's al-Sharh al-Saghir, enabling students and less advanced scholars to better comprehend the rulings and linguistic subtleties of the text .
Method and Sources
In his introduction, al-Sawi established a system of textual references and abbreviated sigla to streamline citations from earlier Maliki authorities :
- Hashiyat al-asl refers to the gloss of Muhammad al-Dusuqi on al-Dardir's al-Sharh al-Kabir (the commentary on Mukhtasar Khalil) .
- Al-Asl designates al-Dardir's commentary text itself .
- Majmu' shaykhina denotes the Majmu' of Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Amir .
- Al-Hashiya refers to the gloss of Ali ibn Ahmad al-Sa'idi al-Adawi on the commentary of Muhammad al-Kharashi .
He also employed specific letter symbols for key scholars, such as (b-n) for Shaykh al-Bannani, (r) for Mustafa al-Ramasi (glossator on al-Tata'i), (h) for Muhammad al-Hattab, (ʿab) for Abd al-Baqi al-Zurqani, and (sh-b) for Ibrahim al-Shabrakhiti, while explicitly spelling out other references .
Annotations and Printings
The work received further scholarly engagement in the Maliki tradition; the scholar Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Mubarak al-Ahsa'i composed a set of critical notes on it entitled al-Ta'liq al-Hawi li-Ba'd al-Buhuth 'ala Sharh al-Sawi .
Bulghat al-Salik was first printed in Bulaq in 1289 AH and in Cairo in 1299 AH, followed by editions from al-Matba'ah al-Khayriyyah in 1310 AH and 1323 AH . Later notable editions include a two-volume Cairo edition published by Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1372 AH (1952 CE) revised by a committee chaired by Ahmad Sa'd Ali, a six-volume edition incorporating al-Ahsa'i's commentary, and printings by Dar al-Ma'rifah in Beirut (1398 AH / 1409 AH), Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah (1415 AH / 1995 CE, edited by Muhammad Abd al-Salam Shahin), and Dar al-Ma'arif .
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