Mukhtasar al-Quduri
- Author died
- 428 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah
Mukhtasar al-Quduri (The Abridgment of al-Quduri) is a foundational legal primer (matn) in Hanafi jurisprudence authored by the Baghdadi jurist Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Quduri (362–428 AH / 972–1037 CE) . Due to its preeminence and widespread circulation among scholars, it is commonly designated simply as al-Kitab ("The Book") within the Hanafi school .
Purpose and Content
The work was composed as a concise compendium designed to record and transmit the authoritative positions (al-rajih al-mu'tamad) of the Hanafi school drawn from the well-established foundational transmissions (zahir al-riwayah), distinguishing accepted legal rulings from weak or unendorsed opinions . According to commentators on Majma' al-Bahrayn, the text encompasses approximately twelve thousand legal questions and rulings .
The manual opens with the praise of God and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad and his family, and commences its substantive legal sections with the Book of Purification (Kitab al-Taharah), followed by the Book of Prayer (Kitab al-Salah) and subsequent chapters of Islamic jurisprudence .
Reception and Scholarly Standing
Mukhtasar al-Quduri achieved wide acceptance across the Hanafi world, competing with earlier abridgments such as those of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi, Abu al-Hasan al-Karkhi, and al-Hakim al-Shahid . Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani took it, alongside al-Jami' al-Saghir, as one of the two foundational source texts for his celebrated manual Bidayat al-Mubtadi . The jurist Abu Ali al-Shashi commended mastery of the work, stating that whoever memorizes it is the most preserving of the companions of the school, and whoever understands it is the most discerning among them .
The text was routinely memorized by students and scholars across centuries . In popular scholarly tradition, it was also read during times of hardship and epidemics such as the plague as a source of blessing (barakah), and memorizing it was held to guard against poverty .
Commentaries and Adaptations
Numerous commentaries (shuruh), glosses, and versifications were produced on the text :
- Commentaries:
- Abu Nasr al-Aqta' (d. 474 AH) authored a commentary in two volumes .
- Najm al-Din al-Zahidi (d. 658 AH) wrote al-Mujtaba in three volumes .
- Abu Bakr ibn Ali al-Haddadi al-Ibbadi (d. c. 800 AH) composed al-Siraj al-Wahhaj in three volumes, which he later abridged as al-Jawharah al-Nayyirah (though Birgivi listed al-Siraj al-Wahhaj among circulating works that are uncredited) .
- Abd al-Ghani al-Maydani composed al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab .
- Ibn Qutlubugha authored al-Tashih wa-al-Tarjih on the manual .
- Badr al-Din al-Kardari (known as Khwahar Zadah) authored Sharh Mushkilat al-Quduri, focusing on the work's difficult and obscure passages .
- Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Razzaq al-Ras'ani (known as Ibn al-Muhaddith) began a commentary but did not complete it .
- Continuations and Versifications:
- Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Makki (d. 598 AH) composed a continuation titled Takmilat Mukhtasar al-Quduri .
- The text was rendered into verse by Fakhr al-Din al-Sulghuri al-Dawraki and Abu al-Muzaffar al-Hakimi .
Publication and Translations
The manual was published in multiple early editions across the Islamic world, including Delhi (1847 CE), Lahore (1870 CE), Kazan (1890–1909 CE), Bombay (1303 AH), Istanbul (1310 AH and 1317–1318 AH), and Cairo (1957 CE) . A French translation was published in Paris in 1829 CE and later reprinted in Tunis .
Answer updated