al-Sanani
Risala Latifa fi Sharh Hadith Anta wa Maluka li Abik
- Author died
- 1182 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah lil-Ṭibāʿah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ
Risala Latifa fi Sharh Hadith Anta wa Maluka li Abik (A Fine Treatise on the Explanation of the Hadith "You and Your Wealth Belong to Your Father") is a short legal treatise by the Yemeni scholar Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-San'ani (1099–1182 AH / 1688–1768 CE) examining the juridical implications of the proprietary rights of parents over their children's wealth .
Background and Legal Position
The treatise revolves around the prophetic tradition: أنتَ ومالك لأبيك ("You and your wealth belong to your father") . Departing from the majority view among jurists—who restricted a father's entitlement to taking solely what is required for subsistence during poverty or necessity—al-San'ani argues that the hadith confers upon the father full authority and right of disposal over his child's wealth during their lifetime, treating it as his own property .
To establish his position, al-San'ani documents traditions narrated through multiple chains, including transmissions recorded by al-Bazzar and Abu Dawud . He attributes the view of unrestricted paternal access to seven Companions—Ali ibn Abi Talib, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Aisha, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Anas ibn Malik, and Abdullah ibn Abbas—and eight Successors, including Masruq, al-Hakam, Mujahid, al-Sha'bi, Ata ibn Abi Rabah, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan al-Basri, and Qatada ibn Di'ama .
Arguments and Refutations
Al-San'ani addresses various objections raised by classical jurists against interpreting the hadith literally:
- Refutation of Abrogation: He responds in detail to Ibn Hazm, who maintained that the hadith was abrogated (mansukh) by Quranic inheritance verses and the exclusive rights of owners over female slaves . Al-San'ani argues that asserting abrogation requires evidence of chronological posteriority, which is absent, and that the texts can be reconciled: the child's property is subject to the father's disposal during life, whereas inheritance distribution takes effect only after death .
- General Prohibitions on Property: Against the juristic reliance on general texts prohibiting the consumption of another's wealth without consent, al-San'ani asserts that the Lawgiver designated the child and his wealth as the father's earning, thereby specifying the general prohibitions .
- Critique of al-Khattabi: He disputes al-Khattabi's assertion in Ma'alim al-Sunan that no scholar allowed the father to consume his child's wealth beyond necessity, showing that the phrasing of the narration indicates outright appropriation (ijtiyah) .
- Status of the Mother: Al-San'ani discusses whether the mother shares the father's right over the child's property, observing that while explicit textual assignment applies directly to the father, extending it to the mother is arguable based on the stated rationale that children are part of both parents' earnings in the hadith: إنَّ أولادكم من أطيب كسبكم، فكلوا من كسب أولادكم ("Your children are among your purest earnings, so eat from the earnings of your children") .
Manuscript and Publication History
The work was not widely recorded in early biographical dictionaries due to its brevity . Its attribution is authenticated through a primary manuscript in eleven folios copied by the author's son, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, formerly held in the library collection of Hibat al-Din al-Shahrastani in Najaf . The treatise was edited by Musa'id Salim al-Abd al-Jadir and published in Beirut by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyya in 1422 AH / 2001 CE as part of the Liqa' al-Ashr al-Awakhir bi-al-Masjid al-Haram series .
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