Jami al-Masail - Ibn Taymiyya
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- T Ataat al-Ilm
Jami' al-Masa'il (Compendium of Inquiries) is a multi-volume collection of previously unpublished treatises, legal responsa (fatawa), and doctrinal principles by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (661–728 AH / 1263–1328 CE) .
Background and Compilation
The work was compiled in the modern era to gather treatises, legal answers, and draft notes by Ibn Taymiyya preserved in manuscript collections across various libraries that had remained unpublished in earlier compendia, such as Muhammad ibn Qasim's Majmu' al-Fatawa or its supplement (al-Mustadrak) . The compilation was initiated and largely edited by Muhammad Uzayr Shams, who edited the first six installments as well as the eighth, while Ali ibn Muhammad al-Imran prepared the seventh group, and later scholars edited the ninth . The project was published under the broader series Athar Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya wa-ma Lahiqaha min A'mal ("Works of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya and Associated Works"), established and supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (d. 1429 AH) .
Scope and Contents
The collection is organized into numbered installments (majmu'at), encompassing texts recovered from libraries in various cities, including manuscripts from the Qadiriyya Library in Baghdad :
- The fourth installment primarily contains legal questions and responsa drafted during Ibn Taymiyya's residency in Egypt between 705 and 712 AH, representing parts of what historical biographers recorded as his Egyptian responsa (al-Fatawa al-Misriyya) .
- The fifth installment gathers eighteen treatises and rulings absent from the Riyadh edition of Majmu' al-Fatawa, eight of which were published for the first time from manuscript originals .
- The eighth installment contains chapters and legal principles transcribed from Ibn Taymiyya's personal working drafts (musawwadat), including treatises on the remembrance of God (dhikr) and supplication (du'a), alongside miscellaneous rulings on prayer and travel .
- The ninth installment was prepared using three manuscript codices containing unprinted questions and answers .
Editorial Method
A significant portion of the material was transcribed directly from Ibn Taymiyya's own manuscripts, which were known for their notoriously difficult handwriting . The editors collated multiple manuscript copies when available, resolved corruptions and omissions caused by copyists, provided vocalization for difficult terms, names, and places, and documented citations and hadith references while cross-referencing parallel arguments across Ibn Taymiyya's other writings .
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