Sharh Umdat al-Fiqh - Ibn Taymiyya - Kitab al-Hajj
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Ḥaramayn
Sharh Umdat al-Fiqh: Kitab al-Hajj (The Commentary on Umdat al-Fiqh: Book of Pilgrimage) is an in-depth legal commentary on the pilgrimage section of Ibn Qudama’s (541–620 AH / 1146–1223 CE) legal primer Umdat al-Fiqh, authored by the Hanbali jurist and theologian Ibn Taymiyya (661–728 AH / 1263–1328 CE) .
Scope and Method
The work constitutes part of Ibn Taymiyya's broader commentary Sharh al-Umdah, which he did not complete for the entire compendium, restricting his writing to the sections on worship (ibādāt) and concluding with the book of pilgrimage (Kitab al-Hajj) .
In this commentary, Ibn Taymiyya presents extensive analysis of legal transmissions (riwāyāt), variant interpretive positions (wujūh), and the doctrines of early Hanbali authorities (al-aṣḥāb al-mutaqaddimūn) . He discusses narrations transmitted from Ahmad ibn Hanbal—such as reports related by al-Marrudhi, Muhanna, al-Athram, Harb al-Kirmani, and al-Maymuni—and examines hadith texts and prophetic traditions governing the rites of pilgrimage, weighing differing opinions (tarjīḥ) across each legal case .
Transmission and Influence
The larger work Sharh al-Umdah was recorded as a four-volume compilation in early biographical dictionaries . It was first documented by Ibn Taymiyya's student Ibn Rushayyiq (d. 749 AH), and subsequent biographical notices were recorded by Ibn Abd al-Hadi (d. 744 AH) in al-Uqūd al-Durriyya, al-Safadi (d. 764 AH) in Aʿyān al-Aṣr and al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt, Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi (d. 764 AH) in Fawāt al-Wafayāt, Ibn Rajab (d. 795 AH) in Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila, and al-Ulaymi (d. 928 AH) in al-Manhaj al-Aḥmad and al-Durr al-Munaḍḍad .
Later Hanbali scholars frequently quoted and relied upon the text for Ibn Taymiyya's preferences, arguments, and doctrinal transmissions, including Shams al-Din Ibn Muflih in al-Furūʿ, Shams al-Din al-Zarkashi in his commentary on Mukhtaṣar al-Khiraqī, Burhan al-Din Ibn Muflih in al-Mubdiʿ, and Ala al-Din al-Mardawi in al-Inṣāf .
Modern Publication
The pilgrimage section of the commentary has been published under individual titles, including Sharḥ al-ʿUmdah: Kitāb al-Ḥajj and Sharḥ al-ʿUmdah fī bayān manāsik al-ḥajj wa-l-ʿumrah, edited by Salih ibn Muhammad al-Hasan in two volumes (Maktabat al-Haramayn, Riyadh, 1409 AH / 1988 CE; and Maktabat al-Rushd, 1412 AH) .
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