Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhhab
- Author died
- 478 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Minhaj
Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhhab (The Ultimate Aim in the Comprehension of the School) is a comprehensive reference work of Shafi'i jurisprudence authored by Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni (419–478 AH / 1028–1085 CE), widely referred to as Imam al-Haramayn . Also known among Shafi'i jurists as al-Madhhab al-Kabir (The Great Compendium of the School), it serves as a foundational synthesis of Shafi'i legal doctrine and doctrine-editing (tahrir al-madhhab) .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Juwayni gathered the materials for the book during his stay in Mecca and completed and edited it upon his return to Nishapur . Following a journey to Isfahan, he dedicated his primary scholarly effort in Nishapur to composing and dictating it . He taught it to his close circle of students and held a concluding gathering attended by leading scholars to mark its completion .
The work was intended to refine the Shafi'i school, establish its overarching legal maxims, clarify the rationales behind its foundational rules (usul), explain the derivations of subordinate cases (furu'), and reconcile the Iraqi and Khurasani (Marwazi) methods of transmission . In doing so, it preserved extensive quotations and legal arguments from early authorities whose original writings have otherwise been lost .
Structure and Method
In structure, Nihayat al-Matlab functions as a commentary on Mukhtasar al-Muzani, following its chapters, sections, and legal cases . However, al-Juwayni notes in his introduction that he does not occupy himself with parsing the literal wording of al-Muzani's text, as earlier scholars had already done so, but focuses instead on explicating the jurisprudence and tracing texts transmitted by al-Muzani back to al-Shafi'i .
In substance, the book encompasses the breadth of al-Shafi'i's legal corpus—including Kitab al-Umm, al-Imla', and al-Risalah, as well as the transmissions of al-Buwayti and other early authorities . Al-Juwayni records the prominent disagreements among Shafi'i jurists, points out rare yet analogically sound legal opinions (wujuh), and identifies positions weakened by faulty analogy, highlighting the authoritative view by stating «المذهب كذا» ("the position of the school is such") .
Reception and Influence
Nihayat al-Matlab received widespread acclaim among Islamic scholars:
- Ibn Khallikan remarked that "nothing like it has been authored in Islam" .
- Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi observed that "nothing like it was authored in Islam before it, and no one attained what he attained" .
- Taj al-Din al-Subki stated: "Nothing like it was authored in the school, as I firmly judge" .
- Ibn Hajar al-Haytami recorded a widely circulated dictum among Shafi'i scholars: "Ever since the Imam authored al-Nihayah, people have occupied themselves only with the Imam's discourse" .
- Al-Nawawi designated it in al-Majmu' as one of the four foundational books of the Shafi'i school .
The work formed the trunk of the subsequent lineage of Shafi'i doctrinal manuals. Al-Juwayni's student Abu Hamid al-Ghazali abridged al-Nihayah into al-Basit, which he condensed into al-Wasit, and further into al-Wajiz . Al-Rafi'i subsequently commented on al-Wajiz in Fath al-Aziz (also known as al-Sharh al-Kabir) and abridged it in al-Muharrar, both of which were later abridged by al-Nawawi into Rawdat al-Talibin and Minhaj al-Talibin .
Abridgments and Editions
Several major jurists produced abridgments of the text:
- Al-Juwayni began his own abridgment, remarking that it was less than half the size of al-Nihayah in volume but more than double in meaning, though it remained incomplete and rare .
- Ibn Abi Asrun (d. 585 AH) abridged it under the title Safwat al-Madhhab fi Tahdhib Nihayat al-Matlab in seven or eight volumes .
- Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam (d. 660 AH) condensed it into al-Ghayah fi Ikhtisar al-Nihayah and also began a work combining al-Nihayah with al-Mawardi's al-Hawi, titled al-Jam' bayn al-Hawi wa-al-Nihayah, though it was left incomplete .
Ibn al-Najjar recorded that the original manuscript comprised forty volumes . The work was critically edited by Abd al-Azim Mahmud al-Deeb and published by Dar al-Minhaj in Jeddah (1st edition, 1428 AH / 2007 CE) .
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