Mufid al-Anam wa Nur al-Zalam fi Tahrir al-Ahkam li-Hajj Bayt Allah al-Haram
- Author died
- 1401 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Nahdah al-Misriyyah
Mufid al-Anam wa Nur al-Zalam fi Tahrir al-Ahkam li-Hajj Bayt Allah al-Haram ("The Benefit of Mankind and Light of Darkness in Setting Forth the Rulings for the Pilgrimage to God's Sacred House") is a legal treatise on the rituals and rulings of Hajj and Umrah by the Saudi Hanbali jurist and judge Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Jasir (d. 1401 AH / 1981 CE) .
Purpose and Scope
Ibn Jasir composed the work to explain the legal rulings governing Hajj, detailing its valid conditions, invalidating acts, essential pillars, obligations, and recommended practices . He placed particular emphasis on recurrent and contentious questions frequently encountered during pilgrimage seasons . These include:
- The validity of Hajj for a pilgrim performing tamattu‘ who enters into ihram for Hajj after circumambulating and completing the sa‘y for Umrah before shaving or shortening the hair .
- Whether a single sa‘y between al-Safa and al-Marwah suffices for both Umrah and Hajj for the mutamatti‘, or if two separate courses of sa‘y are required .
- The rules governing stoning the three jamarat on one's own behalf alongside someone for whom one acts as a proxy or guardian .
- The ruling on refraining from cutting hair and nails upon entering ihram during the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah when intending to offer a sacrificial animal, contrasted with the requirement to cut them upon completing Umrah .
The author also critically examines hadiths cited by earlier jurists regarding pilgrimage rituals and visitation that are neither sound (sahih) nor fair (hasan) .
Method and Sources
Ibn Jasir prioritizes textual evidence over the standard positions of the Hanbali school whenever the evidence warrants it . For instance, he rejects the view found in reference works such as Sharh al-Muntaha and al-Iqna‘ that a pilgrim should face the Qiblah when stoning Jamrat al-Aqabah, arguing instead that the prophetic practice requires placing Mecca to one's left and Mina to one's right .
He presents comparative juristic differences across the legal schools extensively in specific chapters, notably those regarding passing the designated boundary (miqat) without ihram, the prohibitions of ihram, and expiations (fidyah) . His style often involves stating a legal proposition and immediately reinforcing it with verbatim passages from Hanbali references such as Muntaha al-Iradat or al-Iqna‘, intentionally retaining repetitions to provide greater clarity .
The work also incorporates geographical and field data derived from Ibn Jasir's participation in official state committees tasked with surveying and precisely demarcating the sacred sites (al-masha‘ir) and boundaries, such as identifying the miqat of Qarn al-Manazil with al-Sayl al-Kabir .
Reception and Editions
The scholar Abd al-Karim al-Khudayr characterized Mufid al-Anam as a comprehensive two-volume manual of significant utility for students of Islamic law, though noting that it lends itself to abridgment because the author frequently quotes near-identical passages successively from multiple Hanafi and Hanbali works . It was the only book by Ibn Jasir printed during or shortly after his lifetime .
The work has been published in several editions:
- An edition published in Cairo by Shirkat Maktabat Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1372 AH (327 pages) .
- A second edition published in Cairo by Maktabat al-Nahdah al-Misriyyah in 1389 AH .
- A third edition published in Riyadh in 1412 AH / 1992 CE, printed at the expense of Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud .
- An edition edited by Sa‘ud al-Ghudayan, published in 1430 AH, with a second edition in 1431 AH .
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