Sharh al-Siyar al-Kabir
- Author died
- 483 AH
- Editions
- al-Sharikah al-Sharqīyah lil-Iʻlānāt
Sharh al-Siyar al-Kabir (The Commentary on the Great Book of Expeditions and International Law) is a legal commentary by the Transoxanian Hanafi jurist Shams al-A'imma al-Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH / 1090 CE; other reports give 486 or c. 490 AH) on al-Siyar al-Kabir by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani (d. 189 AH / 805 CE) . The base work is one of al-Shaybani's authoritative zahir al-riwaya texts, treating the Islamic jurisprudence of war, peace, treaties, and foreign relations .
Composition and Transmission
Al-Sarakhsi began dictating the commentary while imprisoned in a pit in Uzjand during the final period of his incarceration by the local ruler, and completed it in Marghinan in Jumada al-Ula 480 AH . Al-Sarakhsi transmitted the base text of al-Siyar al-Kabir through a chain from his master Shams al-A'imma Abd al-Aziz al-Halwani, back through Abu Ibrahim Isma'il ibn Tawbah to al-Shaybani .
Al-Sarakhsi reports that al-Shaybani originally composed al-Siyar al-Kabir after al-Awza'i encountered his earlier al-Siyar al-Saghir and questioned why Iraqi scholars were writing on expeditions (siyar), remarking that the military campaigns of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions occurred in the Levant and the Hijaz, whereas Iraq was conquered later . When al-Shaybani produced al-Siyar al-Kabir in sixty notebooks, al-Awza'i examined it and praised the depth of its hadiths and reasoning . Modern scholars such as Muhammad Abu Zahra have contested this narrative on chronological grounds, noting that al-Awza'i died in 157 AH when al-Shaybani was twenty-five years old, whereas al-Shaybani lived until 189 AH and wrote al-Siyar al-Kabir late in life . In the work, al-Shaybani did not cite his teacher Abu Yusuf by name—owing to mutual estrangement—instead referring to him with the expression «أخبرني الثقة» ("The trustworthy one informed me") .
Subject Matter and Scope
The book serves as a foundational source for Islamic public international law . It explicates legal doctrines concerning:
- The conduct of jihad, military engagement, and the rules of warfare .
- Safe-conduct (aman), armistices, and peace treaties (muwada'a) .
- The status of foreign belligerents (ahl al-harb), protected non-Muslim residents (ahl al-dhimma), and transient visitors (musta'minun) .
- The dispatch and legal protections of ambassadors and emissaries .
- Rulings regarding apostates (murtaddun) and rebels (ahl al-baghy) .
The original base text of al-Shaybani has survived primarily as incorporated and interwoven within al-Sarakhsi's commentary rather than as a standalone work .
Commentary, Translations, and Printed Editions
Sharh al-Siyar al-Kabir was commented upon and translated into Ottoman Turkish by Muhammad al-Munib al-Ayntabi (d. 1238 AH) under the title Tayseer al-Maseer fi Sharh al-Siyar al-Kabir, commissioned during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud Khan to instruct commanders and troops in the laws of warfare; it was printed in two volumes in Istanbul in 1241 AH . A French translation of sections of the work was sponsored by UNESCO .
The Arabic text has been published in several major editions:
- A four-volume edition printed in Hyderabad (Deccan) in 1335–1336 AH (1916–1917 CE / 1936 CE) .
- A critical edition initiated at Cairo University in 1958, where the first volume was edited by Mustafa Zayd with an introductory study and annotations by Muhammad Abu Zahra, though the project was not completed .
- A complete five-volume edition published by the League of Arab States (Institute of Arabic Manuscripts) in Cairo between 1971 and 1972, with the first three volumes edited by Salah al-Din al-Munajjid and completed in five volumes .
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