Muid al-Niam wa Mubid al-Niqam
- Author died
- 771 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyyah
Muid al-Niam wa Mubid al-Niqam (The Restorer of Favors and Dispeller of Afflictions) is an ethical, administrative, and socio-religious treatise by the Shafi'i jurist and chief judge Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771 AH / 1370 CE) . The book outlines the religious, ethical, and practical obligations of different social strata and professions in Mamluk society, explaining how adherence to these duties restores lost divine blessings and averts afflictions .
Background and Purpose
The composition of the work was prompted by a question posed to al-Subki asking whether there is a viable path for someone who has been stripped of a religious or worldly favor to have it restored . Al-Subki answered that the remedy consists of three sequential steps, none of which may precede the other: first, discovering the sin or negligence that caused the loss of the blessing and repenting from it; second, recognizing the hidden spiritual benefits of the affliction and submitting contentedly to it; and third, supplicating God through proper devotion . At the questioner's request to elaborate on the application of this cure across different stations in life, al-Subki authored the book .
Structure and Contents
The work is structured around 112 specific societal roles and classes, juxtaposing ideal ethical conduct against the contemporary corruptions of fourteenth-century Mamluk Sultanate society . Al-Subki examines each position's religious responsibilities, the typical abuses committed by its occupants, and the means of fulfilling its true function:
- State and Administration: Discusses the duties of the sultan, his deputies, military commanders, market inspectors, and tax officials .
- Judicial and Religious Classes: Details the integrity required of judges, legal scholars, preachers, and Sufis . Within these sections, al-Subki critiques the pitfalls facing historians, warning against sectarian bias, recording unverified rumors, and accepting contemporaneous rivalries between scholars at face value . He also touches upon theological harmony, affirming that mainstream Sunnis—including the Ash'aris and Hanbalis—share correct foundational beliefs .
- Professions and Laborers: Extends to schoolteachers, librarians, booksellers, copyists, traders, craftsmen, stablehands, and doorkeepers, down to the condition of beggars . Notably, al-Subki devotes attention to the peasant farmers (fallahin), condemning the injustices, heavy exactions, and humiliation they endured in his era .
Editions
The text was edited and published in Cairo in 1367 AH / 1948 CE by the scholars Muhammad 'Ali al-Najjar, Abu Zayd Shalabi, and Muhammad Abu al-'Uyun through Maktabat al-Khanji . Another edition was published in Beirut in 1407 AH / 1986 CE by Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyya .
Answer updated