Abu al-Wafa Ibn Aqil
Kitab al-Funun li-Ibn Aqil
- Author died
- 513 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Mashriq
Kitab al-Funun (The Book of Disciplines) is a massive encyclopedic commonplace book by the Hanbali jurist and theologian Abu al-Wafa Ibn Aqil (431–513 AH / 1040–1119 CE), compiling his personal reflections, debates, legal discussions, and diverse scholarly observations.
Scope and Content
Ibn Rajab described the work as an immense compilation containing valuable material on preaching, Quranic exegesis, jurisprudence, the two foundational disciplines (theology and legal theory), grammar, philology, poetry, history, and narrative anecdotes. It also recorded Ibn 'Aqil's scholarly assemblies, debates with contemporaries, passing reflections, and personal thoughts. Ibn al-Jawzi remarked that Ibn 'Aqil made the work a repository for his fleeting insights and occurrences, adding that examining these entries reveals the profundity of the author's intellect. In his recorded statements, Ibn 'Aqil often referred to himself within the text by phrases such as "a Hanbali said" (qala Hanbali) or "from a legal theorist" ('an usuli).
In the preface of the surviving portion, Ibn 'Aqil explained that he committed to recording what he gathered from scholars' words, books, and thoughts arising from debates and scholarly gatherings in order to spend his time pursuing knowledge and avoiding idle distractions.
Estimated Size
Biographers and historians widely varied in their estimates of the book's total size:
- Ibn al-Jawzi stated that the work comprised 200 volumes, noting that he had obtained around 150 volumes of it.
- Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi reported reading about 70 volumes from the endowment of the Ma'muniyya madrasa in Baghdad.
- Abu al-Baqa' al-Lughawi reported that Abu Hakim al-Nahrawani examined the 304th volume of the work.
- Al-Dhahabi stated that no larger book had been authored in the world, citing an informant who had seen a volume numbered past 400.
- Ibn Rajab transmitted from Abu Hafs 'Umar ibn 'Ali al-Qazwini from some Baghdadi scholars that the collection extended to 800 volumes.
Abridgments and Extant Portions
The vast collection was summarized by later scholars:
- Ibn al-Jawzi abridged it into ten-odd volumes (reported by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi as ten volumes, which he dispersed across his own works).
- Yahya ibn Abi Mansur al-Hubayshi, known as Ibn al-Sayrafi (d. 678 AH), produced an abridgment titled Muntakhab al-Funun.
The vast majority of the original work is lost. A surviving manuscript fragment preserved in Paris was edited by George Makdisi and published in two volumes by Dar al-Machreq (al-Matba'a al-Kathulikiyya) in Beirut in 1970–1971.
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