I'anat al-Talibin 'ala Hall Alfaz Fath al-Mu'in
- Author died
- 1310 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Fikr for Printing, Publishing and Distribution
I'anat al-Talibin 'ala Hall Alfaz Fath al-Mu'in (Arabic: إعانة الطالبين على حل ألفاظ فتح المعين, "Assistance for Seekers in Resolving the Wording of Fath al-Mu'in") is a late Shafi'i legal supercommentary (hashiya) authored by the Meccan-based scholar Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Shatta al-Bakri al-Dumyati (d. 1310 AH / 1892 CE), commonly known as al-Sayyid al-Bakri . It serves as an extensive gloss on Fath al-Mu'in bi-Sharh Qurrat al-'Ayn bi-Muhimmat al-Din, the commentary composed by the Indian jurist Zayn al-Din al-Malibari .
Composition and Context
Al-Dumyati composed the work after delivering lessons on al-Malibari's Fath al-Mu'in to a gathering of students opposite the Sacred Mosque in Mecca . During the readings, he recorded marginal notes to resolve ambiguities and clarify the text's legal formulations . Following the completion of the course, colleagues and students repeatedly requested that he isolate and compile those notes into a standalone reference work; al-Dumyati initially hesitated due to humility before accepting their appeals . He completed the fair copy of the second part on Wednesday, 12 Sha'ban 1299 AH (1882 CE), and finalized the composition of the entire work in 1300 AH (1883 CE) .
Sources and Methodology
The work functions as an encyclopedic synthesis of authoritative late Shafi'i legal opinions . In his introduction, al-Dumyati emphasized that his contribution consisted primarily of transmitting and organizing the conclusions established by the major scholars of the school . His core source texts include:
- Tuhfat al-Muhtaj and Fath al-Jawad Sharh al-Irshad by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami .
- Nihayat al-Muhtaj by Shams al-Din al-Ramli .
- Sharh al-Rawd and Sharh Manhaj al-Tullab by Zakariyya al-Ansari .
- The glosses of Ibn Qasim al-'Abbadi, 'Ali al-Shibramallisi, and Sulayman al-Bujayrimi .
Al-Dumyati noted that he frequently omitted direct attribution to specific reference works throughout the gloss to avoid excessive verbosity .
Structure and Editions
The work is organized into four volumes, corresponding to traditional legal chapters; the third volume begins with the chapter on commercial transactions (Bab al-Bay') . Early printings of the four-volume text include the Bulaq editions of 1300 AH and 1307 AH, as well as the Maymaniyya editions published in Cairo in 1306 AH and 1316 AH, where the base text of Fath al-Mu'in was printed in the margins alongside al-Dumyati's supercommentary .
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