Majma al-Damanat
- Author died
- 1030 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kitab al-Islami
Majma al-Damanat (The Compendium of Legal Liabilities) is a specialized treatise on civil liability, indemnities, and damages in Hanafi jurisprudence, authored by Abu Muhammad Ghanim ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d. 1030 AH / 1621 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The author completed the composition of the work on 25 Jumada al-Ula 1027 AH (1618 CE) . In his introduction, al-Baghdadi explains that understanding the legal rulings of liabilities (al-damanat) is among the most vital legal duties because the majority of disputes and litigation arise around questions of financial accountability, making mastery of this topic mandatory for judges and muftis . He observed that earlier legal literature rarely treated the topic exhaustively under a single coherent system; while the author of Jami al-Fusulayn had dedicated a section to it, he had neither covered all legal branches nor organized every case under its proper subject heading . Consequently, al-Baghdadi set out to compile a comprehensive, dedicated manual encompassing liability across all areas of substantive law .
Method and Sources
Al-Baghdadi compiled the rulings of liability from standard, relied-upon Hanafi reference texts, including Fatawa Qadikhan, al-Marghinani's al-Hidaya, al-Sughra, and al-Khulasa . He intentionally omitted extended legal polemics and detailed scriptural proofs, aiming instead to establish a practical reference work that identifies the soundest (al-sahih), more sound (al-asahh), and relied-upon positions for legal verdicts (al-mufta bihi) according to classical Hanafi authorities .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into thirty-eight chapters (abwab) , systematically surveying liability issues across both ritual and transactional law:
- Chapters 1–4: Zakat, Hajj, sacrificial animals (udhiyya), and manumission (i'taq) .
- Chapters 5–8: Hire and leases (ijara), deposits (wadi'a), and pledges/mortgages (rahn) .
- Chapters 9–12: Usurpation (ghasb), disposal of another person's property with permission, direct and indirect damage or destruction of property (itlaf), and personal injuries and torts (jinayat) .
- Chapters 13–17: Prescribed penalties (hudud), coercion (ikrah), hunting and ritual slaughter, found property (luqata) and foundlings, and runaway slaves (abaq) .
- Chapters 18–24: Commercial contracts, including sales (bay'), agency (wakala), suretyship (kafala), transfer of debt (hawala), partnerships (sharika), profit-sharing partnerships (mudaraba and mubada'a), sharecropping (muzara'a), and irrigation rights (musaqat and shurb) .
- Chapters 25–28: Endowments (waqf), gifts (hiba), marriage and divorce (nikah wa-talaq), and fosterage (rada') .
- Chapters 29–37: Legal claims (da'wa), testimony (shahada) including judicial errors by judges, acknowledgments (iqrar), settlements (sulh), laws of war and statecraft (siyar), partition of property (qisma), executors and guardians (al-wasi wa-al-wali), interdicted and authorized persons, and contracted slaves (mukatab) .
- Chapter 38: Miscellaneous rulings (mutafarriqat), which covers family maintenance, spending by older heirs on minors, building on another's land, deception (ghurur), and sovereign fines .
Editions
Majma al-Damanat was published in Cairo at al-Matba'a al-Khayriyya in 1308 AH (1891 CE) , and later in Beirut by Alam al-Kutub in 1407 AH (1987 CE) . An academic edition edited by Muhammad Ahmad Siraj and Ali Gomaa was published by Dar al-Salam in Cairo in 1420 AH (1999 CE) .
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