Nayl al-Maram min Tafsir Ayat al-Ahkam
- Author died
- 1307 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah
Nayl al-Maram min Tafsir Ayat al-Ahkam (Attaining the Desired Goal in the Exegesis of Legal Verses) is a specialized work of legal Quranic exegesis (tafsir ayat al-ahkam) by the Indian scholar and statesman Siddiq Hasan Khan (1248–1307 AH / 1832–1890 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
Siddiq Hasan Khan began and completed the work during the month of Safar 1287 AH (May 1870 CE) . In his introduction, he noted that although many scholars estimated the number of legal verses in the Quran at five hundred, he considered the actual core verses of legal import to number around two hundred, or close to that figure . He remarked that if one were to count every syntactically complete sentence as an individual verse, the count would exceed five hundred .
Khan explicitly excluded two categories of verses from exhaustive treatment:
- Verses whose legal obligations are known by necessity, such as the general obligation to establish prayer and give charity in وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكاةَ ("And establish prayer and give zakah"), unless the verse also includes elements deduced through specific inference (istidlal), such as the verses governing ritual ablution (wudu') and dry ablution (tayammum) .
- Verses whose evidential basis is disputed among jurists and lacks clear or decisive textual indication, such as using لِتَرْكَبُوها وَزِينَةً ("That you may ride them and as adornment") to deduce a prohibition on consuming horse meat .
The stated objective was to provide a concise reference focusing strictly on verses with clear legal implications to facilitate study for seekers of jurisprudence .
Method and Structure
The work is organized sequentially according to the standard order of the Quran's chapters, beginning with Surat al-Baqarah . Under each legal verse, Khan provides a concise commentary focused on legal deduction and linguistic points, drawing on earlier authorities such as al-Qurtubi and al-Shawkani . In evaluating differing legal opinions, Khan aimed to cite only the weightiest position (al-arjah) supported by the soundest and most explicit proofs (al-asahh al-asrah) .
Khan later authored his comprehensive multi-volume Quranic commentary, Fath al-Bayan fi Maqasid al-Qur'an, which combined transmission, rational analysis, legal deduction, and broader rulings across the entire Quran .
Publication History
Nayl al-Maram was printed in Lucknow in 1292 AH . It was later published in Cairo by Matba'at al-Madani in 1382 AH (1962 CE), and reissued in 1399 AH in a single volume of approximately 570 pages with editing and commentary by 'Ali al-Sayyid Subh al-Madani .
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