Qawaid Usul al-Fiqh allati yulam minha haluhu = Majma al-Usul
- Author died
- 909 AH
- Editions
- Dār Iḥyā’ lil-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
Qawa'id Usul al-Fiqh allati Yu'lamu Minha Haluhu (Arabic: قواعد أصول الفقه التي يعلم منها حاله, lit. 'The Principles of Legal Theory from Which Its Condition Is Known'), historically also published under the title Majma' al-Usul (مجمع الأصول, lit. 'The Compendium of Legal Theory'), is a concise treatise on Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) by the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Mubarrad (also known as Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Hasan ibn Abd al-Hadi, 841–909 AH / 1437–1503 CE) .
Structure and Scope
The work is organized as a dense handbook outlining the foundational definitions, classifications, and maxims of legal theory according to the Hanbali school . It opens by classifying legal sources into:
- Agreed-upon sources (al-usul al-muttafaq 'alayha): four in number, consisting of the Quran (the Book), the Sunnah, consensus (ijma'), and analogical deduction (qiyas) .
- Disputed sources (al-mukhtalaf fiha): six in number, consisting of earlier revealed laws (shar' man qablana), juristic preference (istihsan), public interest (istislah), presumption of continuity (istishab), inductive reasoning (istiqra'), and the ruling of a Companion (madhhab al-sahabi) .
The book then systematically covers major core topics of legal theory:
- Shared linguistic and textual principles: The shared properties of the Quran and the Sunnah, including abrogation (naskh), commands and prohibitions (al-amr wa-l-nahy), general and specific expressions (al-'amm wa-l-khass), modes of qualification and restriction (al-takhsis), absolute and qualified expressions (al-mutlaq wa-l-muqayyad), ambiguous and clarified expressions (al-mujmal wa-l-mubayyan), implied meanings (al-mafhum), textual explicitness (al-nass) versus apparent meaning (al-zahir), homonymy, synonymy, literal and figurative speech (al-haqiqah wa-l-majaz), particles of language, and concurrent transmission (al-tawatur) .
- Rules specific to the Quran and the Sunnah: Distinct rulings for the transmission and recitation of the Quran, followed by criteria for hadith transmission, narrator qualifications, degrees of transmission (samā', qirā'ah, ijāzah, and wijādah), and the status of Companion narrations .
- Legal rulings (al-hukm al-shar'i): Defining the categories of defining law (al-taklif), such as the obligatory (wajib / fard), recommended (mandub), prohibited (haram), disliked (makruh), and permissible (mubah), alongside declarational law (al-wad'), covering causes (sabab), conditions (shart), legal validity (sihhah), nullity (butlan), strict liability ('azimah), and dispensations (rukhsah) .
- Consensus, Analogy, and Ijtihad: The definition and conditions of valid ijma', the pillars and forms of qiyas, the requisite qualifications of a jurist capable of independent reasoning (mujtahid), the divisibility of ijtihad, the rules of following authority (taqlid) and legal verdict issuance (fatwa), and rules for resolving evidential conflicts through textual preference (tarjih) .
Manuscripts and Publication
A manuscript of the work under the title Majma' al-Usul is preserved in Dublin at the Chester Beatty Library (MS 3548) . The text was edited and prepared for publication by Muhammad ibn Mahdi al-Ajmi under its primary title Qawa'id Usul al-Fiqh allati Yu'lamu Minha Haluhu .
Answer updated