Shifa al-Alil wa Ball al-Ghalil fi Hukm al-Wasiyya bil-Khatmat wa al-Tahalil
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- T Istanbul
Shifa al-Alil wa Ball al-Ghalil fi Hukm al-Wasiyya bil-Khatmat wa al-Tahalil (Healing the Ailing and Quenching the Thirst Concerning the Ruling on Bequests for Quranic Completions and Tahlil Recitations) is a legal treatise authored by the Damascus-based Hanafi jurist Ibn Abidin (1198–1252 AH / 1784–1836 CE) examining the legal invalidity of hiring or bequeathing remuneration for reciting the Quran and chanting tahlil on behalf of the deceased .
Background and Purpose
Ibn Abidin wrote the treatise in response to widespread practices he witnessed when plague afflicted Damascus and surrounding regions in 1228–1229 AH . Observing people extensively stipulating testamentary bequests (wasaya) to pay reciters for completing the Quran (khatamat) and reciting the formula of tahlil under the conviction that it constituted a prime act of religious devotion, he composed the text to clarify the established principles of the Hanafi school prohibiting the taking of wages for acts of pure worship . He took inspiration from the earlier sixteenth-century Ottoman scholar Muhammad al-Birkawi, who had rejected paid recitations in his work al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya and dedicated several independent treatises to the issue .
Structure and Sources
The author arranged the treatise into an introduction (muqaddima), two chapters (faslayn), an objective (maqsad), a conclusion (khatima), and an appendix (tatimma) addressing related legal offshoots . The introduction discusses the legal proofs surrounding the receipt of wages for acts of worship and the differences of opinion among scholars across the legal schools .
On his personal autograph copy, Ibn Abidin documented an inventory of more than fifty classical legal reference works he drew upon while writing the treatise . These sources include:
- Major Hanafi commentaries such as Fath al-Qadir, al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Badr al-Din al-Ayni's commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, and commentaries on Kanz al-Daqaiq by Fakhr al-Din al-Zayla'i, Zayn al-Din Ibn Nujaym, and al-Maqdisi .
- Classical fatwa and compendia works, including al-Dhakhira al-Burhaniyya, al-Fatawa al-Zahiriyya, al-Fatawa al-Khaniyya, al-Khulasa, al-Bazzaziyya, al-Fatawa al-Tatar khaniyya, al-Qunyah, and the fatwas of Khayr al-Din al-Ramli and Qasim ibn Qutlubugha .
- Shafi'i and general references, such as al-Nawawi's al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat al-Quran, Zakariyya al-Ansari's Sharh al-Manhaj, and works by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami and al-Khatib al-Shirbini .
Reception and Scholarly Endorsements
The treatise received notable attention and written endorsements (taqariz) from leading contemporary scholars. Ibn Abidin presented the text to Ahmad al-Tahawi, the former Hanafi mufti of Egypt and commentator on al-Durr al-Mukhtar, who reviewed it and endorsed it with praise . Written commendations and poetic endorsements were also composed by:
- The Hanbali jurist Mustafa al-Suyuti .
- Sayyid Muhammad Umar al-Ghazzi .
- Husayn, the fatwa secretary (amin al-fatwa) in Damascus, who wrote his endorsement in Ramadan 1230 AH .
- Umar al-Khalwati al-Bakri al-Yafi and Muhammad Amin al-Ayyubi al-Ansari .
Ibn Abidin later summarized key conclusions of this treatise in his major legal work Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar as well as in al-Uqud al-Durriyya fi Tanqih al-Fatawa al-Hamidiyya .
Supplement and Publications
The author's son, Muhammad Ala al-Din ibn Ibn Abidin, composed a dedicated supplement (dhayl) to the treatise titled Minhat al-Jalil Dhayl Shifa al-Alil wa Ball al-Ghalil li-Bayan Isqat ma ala al-Dhimmah min Kathir wa Qalil, which addressed rulings on clearing the unfulfilled religious obligations of the deceased (isqat ma fi al-dhimmah) and was presented during the reign of the Ottoman sultan Abd al-Hamid .
Shifa al-Alil was published as part of the author's collected treatises (Majmu'at Rasa'il Ibn Abidin) in Damascus in 1301 AH and in Istanbul in 1325 AH .
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