Kashf al-Mughatta min al-Maani wal-Alfaz al-Waqia fi al-Muwatta
- Author died
- 1393 AH
- Editions
- Dār Saḥnūn lil-Nashr wal-Tawzīʿ
Kashf al-Mughatta min al-Maani wal-Alfaz al-Waqia fi al-Muwatta (Uncovering the Obscure Meanings and Expressions in the Muwatta) is a specialized hadith and legal commentary by the Tunisian scholar Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (1296–1393 AH / 1879–1973 CE), focusing on obscure expressions and complex juridical issues in the Muwatta of Imam Malik ibn Anas.
Composition and Purpose
The idea for the book arose while Ibn Ashur was teaching the Muwatta at the University of Ez-Zitouna in Tunis. He originally intended to compose an exhaustive, large-scale commentary compiling earlier commentaries, resolving unresolved difficulties, and providing original insights into Malik's jurisprudence. Competing administrative and scholarly obligations prevented him from completing a full commentary; he therefore restricted the work to a concise compendium recording his original observations, solutions to disputed points, and explanations of rare or unexamined terms that earlier commentators had overlooked.
Structure and Scope
The book opens with a detailed theoretical introduction examining Imam Malik's methodology in hadith compilation and jurisprudence, his criteria for authenticity in comparison to Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, and his elevated chains of transmission (asanid 'aliya) from various Companions. It details the principal recensions of the Muwatta—such as those of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, Mutarrif, Yahya ibn Bukayr, and others—and analyzes Malik's distinct technical phrasing, including expressions like al-amr al-mujtama' 'alayh ("the agreed-upon practice"), fima nara ("in our view"), and ma adraktu 'alayhi ahl al-'ilm ("what I found the scholars practicing").
Following the introduction, the body of the work covers approximately three hundred hadiths and legal issues arranged according to the standard thematic chapters of the Muwatta. Ibn Ashur provides concise elucidations for most chapters, addressing lexical anomalies, grammatical nuances, and legal debates, while integrating teleological (maqasidi) analyses of rulings, such as the underlying purposes of fasting, the legal reality of zakat, and the objectives of the pilgrimage.
Method and Sources
Ibn Ashur relied heavily on manuscript collation across multiple recensions of the Muwatta, giving primary weight to the Andalusian transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi and consulting manuscripts collated against the copy of Ibn Bashkuwal. In his critical assessments, he drew upon standard commentaries as well as rare classical treatises. These include:
- al-Muntaqa by Abu al-Walid al-Baji
- Sharh al-Zurqani by Muhammad al-Zurqani
- Glosses on the Muwatta by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
- al-Qabas and portions of Tartib al-Masalik by Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi
- Portions of al-Tamhid by Ibn Abd al-Barr
- Portions of al-Anwar fi al-Jam' bayn al-Muntaqa wal-Istidhkar by Ibn Zuraq
- The lexical glosses on al-Muwatta by Abu Muhammad Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi
- Mashariq al-Anwar by Qadi Iyad
Reception and Publication
The scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Uthaymin commended the work as "small in size, of immense benefit, dispensing with voluminous tomes, and containing an extremely beneficial introduction." The book was published in Tunis in 1975–1976 by the Société Tunisienne de Diffusion (al-Sharika al-Tunisiyya lil-Tawzi'). It was later re-edited by Taha Ali Bu Sarih al-Tunisi and issued jointly by Dar Sahnun in Tunis and Dar al-Salam in Cairo in 1427 AH / 2006 CE.
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