Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Mabhath al-Ijtihad wal-Khilaf (matbu within Muallafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-Juz al-Thalith)
- Author died
- 1206 AH
- Editions
- Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University
Mabhath al-Ijtihad wal-Khilaf (Inquiry into Legal Reasoning and Scholarly Disagreement) is a short legal treatise by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1115–1206 AH / 1703–1792 CE) that abridges discussions on jurisprudence from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in .
Subject Matter and Scope
The treatise is extracted directly from the fourth volume of Ibn al-Qayyim's I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in . Although titled Mabhath al-Ijtihad wal-Khilaf, its primary focus is the probative authority of the statements of the Prophet's Companions (hujjiyyat qawl al-sahabi) and scholarly differences concerning them . The text establishes the obligation of following the Companions through forty-six distinct aspects or arguments .
It opens with Ibn al-Qayyim's analysis of scenarios where a Companion issues an opinion: if another Companion of equal standing disagrees, neither opinion holds conclusive authority over the other, but if the dissenting party includes more knowledgeable figures, such as the Rightly Guided Caliphs (al-Khulafa al-Rashidun), scholars hold two views (recorded as two narrations from Ahmad ibn Hanbal), with the preponderant view giving precedence to the Caliphs . It further outlines principles of weighting when the Caliphs differ, giving priority to the side with Abu Bakr and Umar, or to Abu Bakr when the two disagree . The work also includes discussions regarding reliance on the Quranic exegesis of the Successors (tafsir al-tabi'i) .
Title, Manuscripts, and Publication
The title of the treatise is derived from an inscription penned by a copyist on the first page of the primary manuscript, reading: "This treatise is authored by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Najdi, and it is the inquiry into legal reasoning and disagreement" . Commentators have noted that this title is broader than the specific topic preserved in the text, suggesting that the surviving content may represent part of an intended larger work .
A manuscript copy is preserved in the Saudi Library in Riyadh (No. 772/86) . At the end of that copy was a section of about one and a quarter pages discussing creedal topics and divine attributes; because it was unrelated to the subject of the treatise, the editors omitted it from the published edition .
The work has been published within the collected writings of the author (Mu'allafat al-Shaykh al-Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab), in the jurisprudence division, edited and collated by Abd al-Rahman al-Sadhan and Abd Allah al-Jibreen, and has also appeared in an edition checked by Abd al-Aziz al-Rumi and Salih al-Hasan .
Answer updated