Ilam al-Alam bi-Ahkam al-Iqrar al-Amm
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- T Istanbul
Ilam al-Alam bi-Ahkam al-Iqrar al-Amm (Informing the Notable Scholars on the Rulings of General Acknowledgement) is a legal treatise on Hanafi jurisprudence by the Damascene jurist Ibn Abidin (1198–1252 AH / 1784–1836 CE), focused on the legal consequences of general acknowledgement (al-iqrar al-amm) and general release (al-ibra al-amm) in estate settlements and financial claims .
Background and Purpose
The treatise addresses a recurrent legal dispute in Islamic transactional law regarding the validity and scope of general acknowledgement, particularly when an heir declares that they have received their complete share of an estate and hold no further claims against any co-heir or administrator . The earlier Hanafi scholar Hasan al-Shurunbulali had compiled a work on the topic titled Tanqih al-Ahkam fi Hukm al-Ibra wa-l-Iqrar al-Khass wa-l-Amm, which harmonized numerous school transmissions . Ibn Abidin composed his treatise to review Shurunbulali’s citations, supplement them with overlooked legal texts, and re-examine unresolved subtleties regarding these contractual formulas .
Structure and Legal Method
The work is organized into an introduction (muqaddima) and six chapters (fusul) . Ibn Abidin analyzes the linguistic and substantive implications of various legal phrasing used in court records and settlements, such as the statement "I have no right against so-and-so" (la haqqa li qibala fulan) or assertions of mutual discharge .
He assesses whether negative indefinites extend to all forms of property, debt, and subsequent claims, while evaluating how prevailing customary linguistic usage (al-urf) modifies the interpretation of classical terms regarding held trusts and guaranteed liabilities . The discussion draws extensively upon authoritative Hanafi references, including al-Asl by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, al-Muhit, al-Dhakhiro, Fatawa Qadikhan, and Jamic al-Fusulayn .
Publication History
The treatise comprises twenty-six pages and was published in Damascus in 1301 AH under the editorial supervision of Shaykh Abu al-Khayr Abidin, as part of the collected compendium Majmucat Rasa'il Ibn Abidin .
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