Kashshaf al-Qina an Matn al-Iqna
- Author died
- 1051 AH
- Editions
- T Wizarat al-Adl · t Musaylihi
Kashshaf al-Qina an Matn al-Iqna (Unveiling the Mask from the Text of al-Iqna) is an extensive legal commentary on Musa ibn Ahmad al-Hajjawi's (d. 968 AH / 1560 CE) Hanbali legal manual al-Iqna li-Talib al-Intifa, authored by the Egyptian Hanbali jurist Mansur ibn Yunus al-Bahuti (d. 1051 AH / 1641 CE) . It serves as one of the most comprehensive and authoritative reference works on substantive law (furu) within the late Hanbali school .
Background and Composition
Al-Bahuti composed the commentary in stages during the 1040s AH . According to the chronicler Ibn Bishr, he began by explaining the section on transactions (muamalat), completing its first volume on 19 Dhu al-Hijjah 1044 AH and its second volume on Thursday, 1 Sha'ban 1045 AH, before completing the section on acts of worship (ibadat) in 1046 AH .
The Najdi scholar Sulayman ibn Ali al-Tamimi (d. 1079 AH / 1668 CE) had independently authored a commentary on al-Iqna . During the Hajj pilgrimage of 1049 AH, Sulayman met al-Bahuti in Mecca, where al-Bahuti showed him his newly finished work . Finding al-Bahuti's commentary matching his own except in a few details, Sulayman destroyed his own manuscript by washing off the ink, leaving al-Bahuti's commentary as the sole comprehensive exposition of al-Iqna .
Methodology and Sources
Al-Bahuti structured the work as an interwoven commentary (sharh mamzuj), blending al-Hajjawi's original text seamlessly into his explanatory prose . In his introduction, al-Bahuti outlined his method, noting that he traced the source texts upon which al-Iqna was built—such as al-Muqni, al-Muharrar, al-Furu, and al-Mustawib—along with their commentaries and supercommentaries, including al-Sharh al-Kabir, al-Mubdi, and al-Insaf . He relied most heavily on Ma'unat Uli al-Nuha, the commentary on Muntaha al-Iradat by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Futuhi (known as Ibn al-Najjar), and on al-Mubdi by Burhan al-Din Ibn Muflih .
Al-Bahuti added necessary legal qualifications (quyyud), underlying rationales (ilal), and scriptural textual proofs (adillah) that al-Hajjawi had omitted in his concise handbook . He also determined the relied-upon position of the school (al-mutamad) whenever al-Hajjawi's statements appeared conflicting or diverged from Ibn al-Najjar's Muntaha al-Iradat, noting the internal disagreements and the legal grounds behind each view .
Reception and Legal Authority
Kashshaf al-Qina achieved wide acceptance across the Hanbali school as an authoritative synthesis of late doctrine . Later scholars referred to it alongside al-Bahuti's commentary on Muntaha al-Iradat as the primary references for issuing legal verdicts (fatwa) and adjudicating disputes .
Its authority was formally codified in the Saudi judicial system by Decision No. 3 of the Judicial Council on 7 Muharram 1347 AH (ratified on 24 Rabi' al-Awwal 1347 AH), which designated al-Bahuti's commentaries on al-Iqna and Muntaha al-Iradat as the primary statutory sources of jurisprudence for Sharia courts in Saudi Arabia . Under this decree, where the two commentaries agree or where one uniquely addresses an issue, their ruling is binding; where they differ, the ruling in Muntaha al-Iradat takes precedence .
Publication History
The work has been printed in several editions, including:
- An early print by al-Matba'ah al-Amirah al-Sharafiyyah in Cairo (1319 AH), issued in four parts bound in three volumes, with al-Bahuti's Sharh al-Muntaha placed in the margins .
- A six-volume edition published by Matba'at Ansar al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyyah in Cairo (1366 AH / 1947 CE), edited by Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi .
- A print published by Maktabat al-Nasr al-Hadithah in Riyadh (1388 AH / 1968 CE), reviewed and annotated by Hilal Musaylihi and Mustafa Hilal .
- A government printing by Matba'at al-Hukumah in Mecca (1394 AH / 1974 CE) .
- A critical edition prepared by a committee of scholars under the auspices of the Saudi Ministry of Justice, published in Riyadh between 1421 AH (2000 CE) and 1429 AH (2008 CE) across 15 volumes .
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