Sharh al-Wiqaya
- Author died
- 747 AH
- Editions
- t Abu al-Hajj
Sharh al-Wiqaya (completed 743 AH / 1343 CE) is a major legal commentary in Hanafi jurisprudence by Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar (Ubayd Allah ibn Mas'ud al-Mahbubi, d. 747 AH / 1346 CE) . It comments on Wiqayat al-riwaya fi masa'il al-Hidaya, an abridgment of al-Marghinani's al-Hidaya composed by the author's grandfather Burhan al-Shari'a Mahmud al-Mahbubi .
Background and Composition
The base text, Wiqayat al-riwaya, was originally authored by Burhan al-Shari'a specifically for his grandson Sadr al-Shari'a to memorize once the latter had completed studying Arabic literary and linguistic disciplines . Sadr al-Shari'a recounts in his prologue that as his grandfather drafted the manual lesson by lesson, he memorized each portion concurrently, concluding his memorization simultaneously with the completion of the text .
To resolve and explain the difficult and intricate rulings within the concise manual, Sadr al-Shari'a authored his commentary, describing his objective at the opening as "the untying of obscure passages in Wiqayat al-riwaya" (hall al-mawadi' al-mughlaqa) . He completed the work in late Safar 743 AH (1343 CE) . In biographical records, Sadr al-Shari'a's death is recorded as 747 AH, while other accounts report 745 AH or 750 AH . The author also produced an abridgment of the base manual under the title al-Nuqaya (or Mukhtasar al-Wiqaya) .
Reception and Educational Status
Sharh al-Wiqaya emerged as the most widely used and influential commentary on al-Wiqaya, to the extent that Hanafi jurists frequently referred to the book simply by the author's title, "Sadr al-Shari'a" . It attained official curricular prominence across Islamic institutions, serving as a standard legal textbook in Ottoman madrasas and within the Dars-i Nizami curriculum in South Asia .
Supercommentaries and Critiques
The commentary generated an extensive corpus of supercommentaries (hawashi) and marginalia across several centuries . Among the prominent scholars who authored glosses on it were:
- Mulla Khusraw (d. 885 AH)
- Hasan Chalabi al-Fanari (d. 886 AH)
- Ya'qub Pasha ibn Khidr Beg (d. 891 AH)
- Muhyi al-Din al-Niksari (d. 901 AH), who dedicated his work to Sultan Mehmed II
- Yusuf Chalabi (Akhi Chalabi, d. 905 AH), author of Dhakhirat al-'uqba
- Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Taftazani (d. 916 AH)
In 928 AH, the Ottoman scholar Ibn Kamal Pasha (d. 940 AH) authored a critical revision titled Islah al-Wiqaya and an accompanying commentary titled al-Idah, arguing that both the base manual and Sadr al-Shari'a's commentary contained flaws, weak legal formulations, and unfounded objections . This critique generated further responses from later scholars, such as Muhammad ibn Bir 'Ali al-Birkawi (Birgivi, d. 981 AH), who arbitrated between Ibn Kamal Pasha and his interlocutors, and Qasim ibn Sulayman al-Nikdawi (d. 970 AH) in his al-Tatbiq, which undertook a formal defense of Sadr al-Shari'a .
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