Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat li-Ibn al-Najjar = Maunat Uli al-Nuha
- Author died
- 972 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Asadī
Maunat Uli al-Nuha Sharh al-Muntaha (Arabic: معونة أولي النهى شرح المنتهى, also known as Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat) is a comprehensive commentary on Hanbali jurisprudence authored by Ibn al-Najjar al-Futuhi (898–972 AH / 1492–1564 CE) to explain and annotate his own legal compendium, Muntaha al-Iradat fi Jam' al-Muqni' ma'a al-Tanqih wa-Ziyadat .
Composition and Purpose
Ibn al-Najjar authored the base matn, Muntaha al-Iradat, by synthesizing Ibn Qudamah's al-Muqni' with Ala al-Din al-Mardawi's al-Tanqih al-Mushbi', restricting the work to the soundest and relied-upon positions of the school while integrating supplementary rulings . Because of the extreme concision of the base text's prose, which the author compared to a heavy veil over its meanings, he composed this detailed commentary to clarify its syntax, explain subtle points, provide legal reasoning, and supply textual evidence for its rulings .
The work is widely known in manuscript and print as Maunat Uli al-Nuha, though the contemporary historian al-Jaziri referred to it after the author's death as Manhal al-Ifadat, while other scholars traditionally cited it simply as Sharh al-Muntaha .
Methodology and Sources
The commentary provides an extensive exposition of Hanbali fiqh, examining differences of transmission, linguistic definitions, and legal evidence . Ibn al-Najjar drew primarily from Ibn Muflih's Kitab al-Furu', utilizing around two hundred scholarly sources throughout the book .
The author adopted a precise technical terminology to distinguish opinions within the madhhab:
- The phrase 'ala al-asahh ("according to the sounder") indicates the preferred opinion between differing transmissions (riwayatan) narrated from Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
- The phrase fi al-asahh ("in the sounder") designates the preferred stance between multiple scholarly extrapolations or views (wajhan) held by the authorities of the school .
At the conclusion of the work, Ibn al-Najjar designated a section for technical terms, general legal maxims, and essential caveats .
Reception and Influence
Maunat Uli al-Nuha became a central reference for later Hanbali jurists . When Mansur al-Bahuti composed his widely studied commentary on the same text (Daqaiq Uli al-Nuha li-Sharh al-Muntaha), he relied substantially on Ibn al-Najjar's commentary, though Bahuti remarked in his introduction that the original commentary varied in detail, being prolonged in certain passages while leaving others without explicit textual proof or rationale . Bahuti also wrote an independent gloss (hashiyah) directly on Ibn al-Najjar's commentary, as did the author's grandson, Uthman ibn Ahmad al-Futuhi .
Editions
The work was edited by Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah ibn Duhaysh and published initially in six large volumes by Dar Khidr in Beirut (1416 AH / 1995 CE), later expanding to nine and then twelve volumes across revised editions, including a fifth edition published in 1429 AH / 2008 CE .
Answer updated