Manhal al-Waridin min Bihar al-Fayd ala Dhakhr al-Mutaahhilin fi Masail al-Hayd
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- T Istanbul
Manhal al-Waridin min Bihar al-Fayd ala Dhakhr al-Mutaahhilin fi Masail al-Hayd (The Spring of Incoming Seekers from the Seas of Inpouring Grace upon "The Provision of the Married regarding Issues of Menstruation") is a specialized legal commentary on the rulings of ritual purity, menstruation, lochia, and irregular vaginal bleeding according to the Hanafi school, authored by the Damascene jurist Ibn Abidin (1198–1252 AH / 1784–1836 CE).
Background and Purpose
The work is an extensive line-by-line commentary on Dhakhr al-Muta'ahhilin wal-Nisa' fi Ta'rif al-Athar wad-Dima' (The Provision of the Married and Women in Defining Purities and Bloods), a concise treatise composed by the Ottoman scholar Muhammad ibn Bir Ali al-Birkawi (929–981 AH / 1523–1573 CE). In the preface, Ibn Abidin explains that he studied al-Birkawi's treatise with fellow scholars and found it to be exceptionally compact yet exhaustive in synthesizing the intricate legal branches and rules of the chapter, free of tedious verbosity. He undertook the commentary to untangle its difficult passages, unveil its underlying legal reasoning, extract its subtle points, and make its detailed rulings accessible.
Content and Structure
The commentary strictly follows the thematic division established by al-Birkawi's base text, which addresses legal definitions, universal principles, practical case scenarios, and their ritual implications:
- Introduction (al-Muqaddimah): Divided into two sections: the first clarifies technical legal terms used in this chapter of jurisprudence, and the second articulates the universal legal maxims and principles (al-usul wal-qawa'id al-kulliyyah) governing bloods and purities.
- Chapter 1: Discusses the initial manifestation, minimum and maximum durations of the three types of bleeding (menstruation, lochia, and irregular bleeding), and rulings pertaining to the use of the cotton pad (al-kursuf).
- Chapter 2: Details the legal differences between a beginner experiencing bleeding for the first time (al-mubtada'ah) and a woman with an established menstrual or lochial habit (al-mu'tadah), providing practical mathematical examples and rules for how habits shift.
- Chapter 3: Covers the cessation of bleeding (al-inqita') and the conditions under which a woman resumes prayer, fasting, or marital intimacy.
- Chapter 4: Examines continuous bleeding (al-istimrar) exceeding the valid limits, including an exposition of the seven forms of defective bleeding classified as irregular bleeding (istihadah).
- Chapter 5: Focuses on the perplexed woman who has forgotten her habitual bleeding pattern or dates (al-mudillah / al-mutahayyirah).
- Chapter 6 and Conclusion: Outlines the substantive legal rulings arising from these bloods, followed by an appendix (tadhneeb) addressing major ritual impurity (janabah), minor ritual impurity (hadath), and the regulations governing the chronically excused person (al-ma'dhur).
Throughout the text, Ibn Abidin cross-references authoritative Hanafi compendia, rigorously verifying transmitted positions and clarifying difficult mathematical and temporal calculations.
Reception and Publication
Manhal al-Waridin is considered one of the foremost and most relied-upon late references in the Hanafi school on the subject of women's ritual bleeding, complementing other notable historical commentaries on al-Birkawi's matn, such as Dhakha'ir al-Akhirah by Ishaq ibn Hasan al-Tawqadi (d. 1100 AH) and Zad al-Mutazawwijin by Abd al-Qadir ibn Yusuf Naqibzadeh (d. 1107 AH).
The text is preserved in various manuscript collections and has been published as part of Ibn Abidin's collected treatises (Majmu'at Rasa'il Ibn Abidin). It was also critically edited alongside al-Birkawi's base text by Hedaya Hartford and Ashraf Munib, reviewed by Abd al-Rahman Arjan al-Biniswi, and published with an accompanying explanatory guide (Irshad al-Mukallafin) by Dar al-Fikr in Damascus in 1426 AH / 2005 CE.
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