Mukhtasar al-Muammal fi al-Radd ila al-Amr al-Awwal
- Author died
- 665 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Ṣaḥwah al-Islāmiyyah
Mukhtasar al-Muammal fi al-Radd ila al-Amr al-Awwal (Abridgment of the Hoped-for Book on Returning to the Original State) is a treatise on legal methodology and jurisprudence by the Damascene scholar Abu Shama al-Maqdisi (596 or 599–665 AH / 1200 or 1202–1267 CE) . The work critiques the prevalence of blind following (taqlid) and school partisanship, advocating a return to independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) grounded directly in the Quran and the Sunnah .
Background and Composition
Abu Shama planned a comprehensive, multi-volume legal treatise entitled al-Kitab al-Muammal fi al-Radd ila al-Amr al-Awwal, which he remarked would have been unprecedented had he completed it . Although the larger encyclopedia was left unfinished, its extensive introduction—circulating as an abridged text (mukhtasar) or preamble (khutbah)—was preserved and disseminated as an independent treatise . In it, the author sought to guide serious students toward direct legal verification and to distinguish rigorous scholarship from the uncritical imitation characteristic of later jurists .
Content and Themes
The text addresses the decline of scholarly standards and the abandonment of foundational sources in favor of late school commentaries . Its primary themes include:
- Virtue of Knowledge and the Early Jurists: Abu Shama outlines the nobility of religious learning and praises the early absolute jurists (al-a'immah al-mujtahidun), dedicating a dedicated section to the merits of al-Shafi'i and his mastery of scripture and Arabic linguistics .
- Critique of Taqlid and School Fanaticism: The author censures the rigid consolidation of the four legal schools, arguing that treating the pronouncements of late imams as inviolable parallels scriptural distortions condemned in اتخذوا أحبارهم ورهبانهم أربابا من دون الله ("They took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah") . He laments that partisans frequently resort to far-fetched interpretations to defend their school's doctrine even when confronted with unambiguous prophetic traditions .
- Adherence to Authentic Hadith: Citing transmitters such as al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman and al-Muzani, Abu Shama demonstrates that early authorities—most notably al-Shafi'i himself—explicitly prohibited followers from practicing unquestioning taqlid and instructed scholars to discard any ruling that contradicts an established prophetic report .
- Methodology of the Salaf: The treatise reviews the practice of the early generations (al-salaf al-salih), noting their hesitation to issue rulings without immediate necessity and their strict adherence to scriptural proof when practical dilemmas arose .
Publication History
The work was first printed in Cairo at Matba'at Kurdistan in 1328 AH (1910 CE), corrected by Muhyi al-Din Sabri al-Kurdi and Muhammad Husayn Nu'aymi al-Kurdi under the title Mukhtasar Kitab al-Muammal li-l-Radd ila al-Amr al-Awwal . It was subsequently included by Muhammad Munir al-Dimashqi in Majmu'at al-Rasa'il al-Muniriyya (1343–1346 AH / 1924–1927 CE) . An edition edited by Salah al-Din Maqbool Ahmad was published by Maktabat al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya in Kuwait in 1403–1404 AH (1983 CE) . A later critical edition was prepared by Jamal 'Azzun based on two complete manuscripts—including a manuscript held in the Chester Beatty Library (MS 3307)—and published as Khutbat al-Kitab al-Muammal in Riyadh by Maktabat Adwa' al-Salaf in 1424 AH (2003 CE) . Another manuscript copy is preserved in Rampur, India .
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