Sharh al-Minhaj al-Muntakhab ila Qawaid al-Madhhab
- Author died
- 995 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Abd Allāh al-Shinqīṭī
Sharh al-Minhaj al-Muntakhab ila Qawaid al-Madhhab (Explanation of "The Selected Path to the Legal Maxims of the School") is an extensive Maliki commentary on legal maxims (qawaid fiqhiyyah) authored by the Moroccan jurist Ahmad al-Manjur (926–995 AH / 1520–1587 CE) .
Base Text and Sources
The commentary explains the didactic poem al-Minhaj al-Muntakhab by the jurist of Fez, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Qasim al-Zaqqaq (d. 912 AH / 1506 CE) . The poem consists of 443 verses structured according to substantive legal chapters (al-abwab al-fiqhiyyah) . In composing it, al-Zaqqaq extracted legal maxims from earlier Maliki authorities, drawing heavily on the Qawaid of Abu Abd Allah al-Maqqari (d. 758 AH / 1357 CE) .
Purpose and Method
In his introduction, al-Manjur states that he composed the commentary to resolve difficult passages in the poem and complete the presentation of its subjects, observing that despite its brevity and ease of memorization, the poem encompasses a vast amount of jurisprudence . Following the arrangement of al-Zaqqaq's verses, al-Manjur expands upon the underlying maxims and their applications across legal topics, detailing the secondary cases and legal parallels (al-naza'ir wa-l-furu') that fall under each rule .
Reception and Related Works
Al-Manjur's commentary attained wide prominence in the Maliki school, becoming the subject of subsequent derivative treatises . Al-Manjur himself prepared an abridgment of his commentary, titled al-Mukhtasar al-Mudhhab min Sharh al-Minhaj al-Muntakhab . Later scholars also produced summaries of the work, such as al-Is'af bi-l-Talab Mukhtasar Sharh al-Manhaj 'ala Qawaid al-Madhhab by Abu al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Tawani, which was printed in Benghazi in 1395 AH / 1975 CE .
The complete commentary was edited by Muhammad ibn al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin and published by Dar Abd Allah al-Shinqiti .
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