Lisan al-Hukkam

Lisan al-Hukkam fi Ma'rifat al-Ahkam (The Tongue of Judges in Knowing Judicial Rulings) is a classical manual of Hanafi substantive law and judicial procedure authored by Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Shihna (844–882 AH / 1440–1477 CE) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Composition and Purpose

Ibn al-Shihna composed the work upon assuming the office of Hanafi chief judge in Aleppo al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. In the introduction, he explains that after being tried with judicial office, he sought to compile an abridged, rigorous legal guide selected from the authoritative reference works of leading Hanafi jurists Lisan al-Hukkam. The manual was designed to serve magistrates by compiling frequently occurring legal disputes and practical transactions, elucidating procedural norms and rules of adjudication to aid judges in resolving litigations Lisan al-Hukkam+1. Ibn al-Shihna intended to versify the text, but did not carry out that plan Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a….

Structure and Incompletion

The book was designed around thirty topical chapters (fusul), encompassing legal transactions, civil litigation, and judicial administration Lisan al-Hukkam+1:

1. Judicial etiquette and related affairs (Adab al-Qada')
2. Types of lawsuits and proofs (al-Da'awa wa-l-Bayyinat)
3. Testimonies (al-Shahadat)
4. Agency, suretyship, and debt transfer (al-Wakala, al-Kafala, wa-l-Hawala)
5. Settlement and reconciliation (al-Sulh)
6. Legal admission (al-Iqrar)
7. Deposits (al-Wadi'a)
8. Gratuitous loans (al-'Ariyya)
9. Types of guarantees and indemnities (al-Damanat)
10. Endowments (al-Waqf)
11. Usurpation, preemption, and partition (al-Ghasb, al-Shuf'a, wa-l-Qisma)
12. Leasing and interdiction (al-Ikra' wa-l-Hajr)
13. Marriage (al-Nikah)
14. Divorce (al-Talaq)
15. Manumission (al-'Itaq)
16. Oaths (al-Ayman)
17. Sales (al-Buyu')
18. Hires and leases (al-Ijarat)
19. Gifts (al-Hiba)
20. Pledges (al-Rahn)
21. Disapproved matters (al-Karahiyya)
22. Game, slaughtered animals, and sacrifice (al-Sayd, al-Dhaba'ih, wa-l-Udhiyya)
23. Torts, blood money, and fixed penalties (al-Jinayat, al-Diyat, wa-l-Hudud)
24. Water rights, sharecropping, and agricultural partnerships (al-Shirb, al-Muzara'a, wa-l-Musaqah)
25. Walls and related boundaries (al-Hitan)
26. Interstate law and expeditions (al-Siyar)
27. Rulings on conversions and apostasy
28. Bequests and wills (al-Wasaya)
29. Inheritances and further related legal branches Lisan al-Hukkam

Ibn al-Shihna died of the plague in Aleppo in 882 AH before completing the book, halting midway through Chapter 21 on disapproved matters Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1.

Continuation and Publication

Because the final nine chapters remained unwritten, the Hanafi scholar Burhan al-Din Ibrahim al-Khalifi (also vocalized as al-Khala'i) al-Adawi al-Halabi compiled a continuation completing Chapters 22 through 30, finishing it in 1015 AH under the title Ghayat al-Maram fi Tatimmat Lisan al-Hukkam Lisan al-Hukkam+1. In compiling this supplement, al-Khalifi extracted material verbatim from authoritative Hanafi texts while explicitly attributing each excerpt to its original source Lisan al-Hukkam.

Lisan al-Hukkam was published alongside al-Khalifi's continuation in Alexandria at Matba'at Jaridat al-Burhan in 1299 AH Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. It was also printed in Cairo (1310 AH) in the margins of Ala' al-Din Ali ibn al-Khalil al-Tarabulsi's judicial treatise Mu'in al-Hukkam fi ma Yataraddad bayn al-Khasmayn min al-Ahkam, and subsequently issued in Cairo by Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1393 AH / 1973 CE Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1.