Masa'il Ajab Anha al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Imām Aḥmad lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘ wa-al-Ṣawtiyyāt
Masa'il Ajab 'Anha al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Questions Answered by the Hadith Master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani) is a collection of legal, theological, and hadith responsa issued by the Egyptian Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE).
Context and Authorship
Ibn Hajar received authorization (idhn) to issue legal rulings (ifta') from teachers including Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini, and al-Bulqini's son, and he was appointed to the post of mufti at Dar al-Adl in 811 AH. His student Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi characterized his fatwas as exceptionally concise while fully achieving their purpose, particularly on novel issues lacking earlier explicit transmission (masa'il la naql fiha), noting that Ibn Hajar often wrote answers for more than thirty inquiries in a single day. Ibrahim ibn Umar al-Biqa'i praised his fatwas and dictations as being "like the sun in brilliance," and Qadi Qutb al-Din al-Khaydari stated that scholars relied upon his rulings when addressing complex problems.
Ibn Hajar's various fatwas were not compiled into a single unified work during his lifetime, but remained preserved in manuscripts held by his students; al-Sakhawi recorded selections of them in his biographical work al-Jawahir wa al-Durar and in al-Maqasid al-Hasana.
Content and Method
The collection brings together Ibn Hajar's answers to specific inquiries submitted to him regarding hadith authenticity, theological concepts, and juristic matters:
- Theological formulations and popular sayings: Asked about a circulated statement concerning the oppressor being God's justice on earth, Ibn Hajar analyzed the linguistic and theological framing, defining divine justice ('adl) as treating everyone according to their deed, in contrast to divine grace (fadl), and distinguishing the Sunni understanding of divine will from the Mu'tazilite doctrine of justice.
- Sufism and charismatic claims: In response to a query regarding Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's critique of Ali ibn Yusuf al-Shattanawfi's Bahjat al-asrar concerning Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Ibn Hajar categorized the contents of the book into three divisions: reports that conform to the Sharia; reports that outwardly conflict with it and must be avoided unless subject to plausible interpretation; and ambiguous reports. He noted that al-Shattanawfi gathered sound and fabricated reports indiscriminately due to a lack of critical training in transmitter criticism (naqd al-ruwat), while defending al-Jilani's adherence to the Sharia.
- Hadith criticism and daily practices: Asked about rulings and reports regarding honoring or disrespecting bread, Ibn Hajar gathered and evaluated the various transmissions, ruling out both desecration (as waste of property) and excessive veneration such as kissing or placing bread on the head, while classifying the attributed narrations as weak (da'if) or ungrounded.
Manuscript and Publication
The collection was edited by Abu Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Majid Jumu'ah from a manuscript in the National Library of Algeria (MS 2632, within majmu' no. 10), written in Maghribi script with red ink. Attribution to Ibn Hajar is attested by his explicit signature on the first answer, the transcription of the second answer by his student al-Sharif al-Jazari from Ibn Hajar's autograph, citations of these answers in al-Sakhawi's works, and cross-references by Ibn Hajar himself to his book Nata'ij al-afkar fi takhrij ahadith al-Adhkar. Separately, Dr. Abd al-Rahim ibn Muhammad Ahmad al-Qashqari compiled twenty collections of Ibn Hajar's dispersed fatwas from libraries across Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Spain, publishing ten of them in Riyadh.
Answer updated