Jawahir al-Durar fi Nazm Mabadi Usul Ibn Badis al-Abar
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- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
Jawahir al-Durar fi Nazm Mabadi Usul Ibn Badis al-Abar (Arabic: جواهر الدرر في نظم مبادئ أصول ابن باديس الأبر) is a didactic poem in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) composed by the Mauritanian scholar Muhammad ibn Mahfuz al-Shinqiti . It versifies Mabadi' al-Usul, a foundational treatise by the Algerian reformist scholar and head of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, Abd al-Hamid Ibn Badis .
Background and Composition
The base text, Mabadi' al-Usul, was originally among the lessons and dictations that Ibn Badis delivered to his students . Students requested that Muhammad ibn Mahfuz—known colloquially among students as Shaykh al-Suq due to his teaching in that ribat—render the work into verse to facilitate its memorization and study .
The author completed the versification after the Friday midday prayer in the year 1424 AH (c. 2003–2004 CE), dating it in the closing lines through abjad numerals (hisab al-jummal) . The poem comprises 375 verses, also recorded through numerical letter notation (ha', 'ayn, sin) in the concluding lines .
Method and Structure
In composing the poem, the author followed the thematic sequence, chapter divisions, and section headings set by Ibn Badis, adhering as closely as possible to the original prose wording while occasionally advancing, postponing, or adding phrases to complete the poetic meters .
The work is organized into an introduction, four main chapters, and a conclusion :
- Introduction: Covers the historical originator of usul al-fiqh as a recorded discipline and defines the field—adopting Ibn Badis's formulation—as the science of rules through which legal rulings are derived from textual and rational evidences .
- Chapter One: Discusses servitude to God and adherence to divine commands, prohibitions, and permissions .
- Chapter Two: Examines legal rulings (al-ahkam al-shar'iyyah), dividing them into defining rulings (taklifi: obligation, recommendation, prohibition, disapproval, and permissibility) and declaratory rulings (wad'i: causes, conditions, and impediments), as well as strictures and dispensations ('azimah and rukhsah), validity and nullity, the requirements of rulings, the act judged (al-mahkum fih), and the accountable subject (al-mahkum 'alayh) .
- Chapter Three: Details the sources of law (adillat al-ahkam), specifically the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus (ijma'), and analogical reasoning (qiyas) .
- Chapter Four: Sets forth interpretive linguistic and legal rules (al-qawa'id al-usuliyyah), including literal meaning, explicit text (nass), apparent meaning (zahir), interpreted text (mu'awwal), ambiguous (mujmal) and clarified (mubayyan) speech, general ('amm) and specific (khass) expressions, absolute (mutlaq) and qualified (muqayyad) terms, abrogation (naskh), and the normative authority of the Prophet's ﷺ actions and tacit approvals .
- Conclusion: Concludes with sections on independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), uncritical adoption of authority (taqlid), and guided adherence to evidence (ittiba') .
Publication
The work was prepared for publication by the author's student, al-Mukhtar ibn al-'Arabi Mu'min, and printed by Dar Ibn Hazm in a single-volume first edition in 1426 AH / 2005 CE .
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