Manzumat al-Adab = al-Alfiyya fi al-Adab al-Shariyya
- Author died
- 699 AH
- Editions
- دار البشائر الإسلامية
Manzumat al-Adab (also known as al-Alfiyya fi al-Adab al-Shar'iyya and al-Manzuma al-Kubra) is a didactic poem on Islamic legal etiquette and jurisprudence composed by the Hanbali scholar Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Abd al-Qawi al-Mardawi (630–699 AH / 1233–1300 CE) .
Form and Structure
The work is a didactic thousand-line poem (alfiyya) composed in the tawil poetic meter and rhyming throughout in the letter dal . Ibn Abd al-Qawi authored two versions of the text: a major poem (al-Kubra) and a minor poem (al-Sughra) .
The poem opens with:
بِحَمْدِكَ ذِي الْإِكْرَامِ مَا رُمْتُ أَبْتَدِي ... كَثِيرًا كَمَا تَرْضَى بِغَيْرِ تَحَدُّدِ
"With praise of You, Possessor of Honor, whenever I seek to begin; an abundant praise as You are pleased with, without limit."
It concludes with:
وَقَدْ كَمُلَتْ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَحْدَهُ ... عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ دَائِمًا لَمْ يُصَدَّدِ
"And it is completed, and praise belongs to God alone; in every circumstance, eternally unceasing."
Scope and Contents
Although centered on moral conduct and legal etiquette (al-adab al-shar'iyya), the poem incorporates a wide range of substantive legal rulings (fiqh) . The subjects treated across its verses include:
- The ethics of speech and personal conduct, including the prohibitions of slander (buhtan), backbiting (ghiba), tale-bearing (namima), disclosing secrets, cursing, foul language, deceit, and lying .
- Legal rulings regarding musical instruments, singing, and permitted poetry .
- Enjoining good and forbidding evil .
- Clothing, personal adornment, and the boundaries of bodily modesty (awrah) .
- Interpersonal etiquette, such as initiating greetings of peace (salam), seeking permission to enter (isti'dhan), shaking hands, showing deference to parents and scholars, and maintaining kinship ties .
- Rules regarding lowering one's gaze, conduct inside mosques, and obligations governing armies during military campaigns .
Commentaries and Editions
The poem has been served by several scholars in the Hanbali school:
- Al-Qadi Ala' al-Din al-Mardawi (d. 885 AH / 1480 CE) wrote a commentary on it .
- Musa al-Hajjawi (d. 968 AH / 1560 CE) composed a commentary on the author's minor versification, al-Manzuma al-Sughra .
- Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Saffarini (d. 1188 AH / 1774 CE) authored the well-known extensive commentary Ghidha' al-Albab fi Sharh Manzumat al-Adab in two large volumes, covering the vast majority of its verses .
The poem has been published alongside al-Saffarini's commentary as well as independently in a critical edition prepared by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi .
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