Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha

Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha (Dictionary of Juridical Terms) is a specialized multilingual dictionary of Islamic jurisprudential terminology compiled by Muhammad Rawwas Qalaji and Hamid Sadiq Qunaybi Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha+1.

Background and Purpose

The authors completed the compilation of the dictionary on 1 Shawwal 1404 AH (1984 CE) in Dhahran, with the support of the Department of Islamic and Arabic Studies at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (then the University of Petroleum and Minerals) Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha. The compilation drew upon material gathered over a period of more than twenty-five years Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha. The work was conceived to address a need in linguistic and legal scholarship, catering to researchers, preachers, and practitioners of comparative jurisprudence, particularly given the growing international relevance of Arabic and Islamic law in legal studies Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha+1.

The dictionary contains 4,390 Arabic terms alongside 4,370 English equivalents, exceeding earlier specialized collections such as the 3,277 Hanafi terms compiled by Muhammad Amim al-Ihsan al-Barkati in Qawa'id al-Fiqh Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.

Structure and Method

Entries in the dictionary are arranged strictly in alphabetical order according to the outer form of the word, rather than being reduced to trilateral Arabic roots Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha. The authors established specific indexing principles:

• The definite article (al-) is omitted from alphabetical ordering Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• Noun forms are preferred over verbs unless a verb is the predominant form used by jurists Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• The extended alif (al-alif al-mamdudah) is treated as two alifs Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• Geminated consonants (shaddah) are counted as single letters without resolving their assimilation Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• The hamzah precedes the alif regardless of its written carrier (alif, waw, or ya') Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• In compound terms, the primary element precedes other compounds containing that term Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.

Each entry presents the linguistic root and general linguistic meaning of the word, followed by its specific technical definition in Islamic jurisprudence, and concludes with equivalent terminology in English or, when unavailable, in French Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha+1. The text employs specific notations, including a small circle for the technical legal definition, a semicolon for the transition to the general linguistic meaning, and the abbreviation (F) for French equivalents Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha+1.

Authorship and Publication

The compilation was divided between the two authors:

• Muhammad Rawwas Qalaji took responsibility for collecting the jurisprudential terms, developing their legal definitions, standardizing and converting legal measurements (tahrir al-maqadir al-shar'iyyah), and conducting the final editing and revisions Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.
• Hamid Sadiq Qunaybi was responsible for the alphabetical ordering, writing the introductory study on the terminology of jurists, providing the linguistic definitions, and compiling the foreign language equivalents Mujam Lughat al-Fuqaha.

The dictionary was published in Beirut by Dar al-Nafais across multiple editions, including a second edition published in 1408 AH (1988 CE) al-Masail allati qila فيه…+1.