Kitab al-Hajj min Mudawwanat Ashhab
- Author died
- 204 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al Ber Society
Kitab al-Hajj min Mudawwanat Ashhab (The Book of Pilgrimage from the Compendium of Ashhab) is an early Maliki legal text by the Egyptian jurist Ashhab ibn Abd al-Aziz (d. 204 AH / 819–820 CE), consisting of legal rulings and opinions concerning the pilgrimage rites.
Origin and Background
The work forms the pilgrimage section of Ashhab's larger legal compendium, known as Mudawwanat Ashhab or Kitab Ashhab. Ashhab authored this compendium along the lines of Asad ibn al-Furat's al-Asadiyyah, diverging from the views of his contemporary Ibn al-Qasim across most legal questions, while providing legal arguments for his own positions. Al-Qadi Iyad characterized Mudawwanat Ashhab as a revered and richly informative work, transmitted from Ashhab by scholars such as Sa'id ibn Hassan and others. The substantive divergences between Ashhab's Mudawwanah and Ibn al-Qasim's rulings served as a major basis for differing legal opinions within the early Maliki school, and Sahnun incorporated many of Ashhab's rulings into his own Mudawwanah.
Structure and Method
The text is organized into topical chapters structured around direct questions addressed to Ashhab and his authoritative responses. In answering these legal questions, Ashhab articulates his legal determinations and draws upon traditions from the Prophet ﷺ, Companions such as Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Abbas, and his teachers Malik ibn Anas and al-Layth ibn Sa'd.
Among the topics treated in the surviving text are:
- Rulings on the stoning of the pillars (ramy al-jimar), including the invalidity of using clay or iron instead of pebbles, and the required count when pebbles are cast together.
- Staying overnight in Mina during the days of Tashriq, rulings on spending those nights in Mecca, and entering Mecca during the nights of Mina to perform circumambulation (tawaf) or attend to personal needs.
- Raising hands in supplication at the two pillars, and the expiatory compensation (hady) incurred if a child misses the stoning or hunts game.
- Vicarious pilgrimage acts, such as entering into ihram on behalf of an incapacitated or mentally disabled person, casting pebbles on behalf of an unconscious person, and supplications by a sick person while someone stones on their behalf.
Transmission and Publication
Surviving portions of the work were preserved among the ancient manuscript holdings of the Library of Kairouan, where parts four and five (al-juz'an al-rabi' wa-l-khamis) were transmitted through Sahnun. These two surviving parts of Kitab al-Hajj were edited by Hamid Lahmar and published by Dar al-Birr in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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