Sifat al-Mufti wal-Mustafti
- Author died
- 695 AH
- Editions
- tahqiq Abi Jannah
Sifat al-Mufti wal-Mustafti (The Description of the Mufti and the Questioner) is a Hanbali treatise on the rules, qualifications, and etiquette of legal issuance (fatwa) and legal consultation by the Hanbali jurist and judge Najm al-Din Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Harrani (603–695 AH / 1206–1295 CE) .
Title and Purpose
The work appears under various titles in manuscript copies and biographical literature, including Sifat al-Fatwa wal-Mufti wal-Mustafti, Adab al-Mufti wal-Mustafti, and al-Mufti wal-Mustafti, though Sifat al-Mufti wal-Mustafti is the most widely attested and corresponds closely to the author's statement in his opening lines . Ibn Hamdan stated that he composed the book after observing unqualified and ignorant individuals venturing into issuing fatwas without proper credentials or fear of sin; his objective was to delineate the definitions, duties, and conditions governing the mufti, the questioner (mustafti), the act of requesting a ruling (istifta'), and the fatwa itself .
Structure and Contents
The book opens with a discussion of the gravity and virtue of issuing fatwas, urging caution and citing textual proofs and statements from early scholars against haste in answering legal queries . The subsequent material covers:
- Qualifications and Conditions of the Mufti: Detailing requirements such as being a Muslim, reaching legal maturity and sanity (mukallaf), uprightness ('adala), juridical understanding, alertness, and possessing the capacity for legal reasoning (ijtihad) .
- Ranks of Jurists and Muftis: Classifying practitioners into four tiers: the absolute/independent jurist (mujtahid mutlaq), the jurist operating within the founder's school (mujtahid fi madhhab imamihi), the jurist specializing in a specific branch of knowledge (mujtahid fi naw' min al-'ilm), and the jurist proficient in specific individual questions (mujtahid fi mas'ala aw masa'il) .
- Rules and Etiquette of the Mufti: Addressing operational procedures, handling competing inquiries, avoiding bias, and the impermissibility of issuing fatwas in states of anger or distraction .
- Rules and Etiquette of the Questioner: Outlining how non-specialists should seek rulings, verify the competence of a scholar, and handle differing answers .
- The Hanbali School and Its Terminology: Arguing for the merits of adhering to the madhhab of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, explaining the phrasing used by Ahmad (alfaz al-Imam), and clarifying the terminology used by later Hanbali authorities (alfaz al-ashab) .
- Pitfalls in Authorship: A concluding chapter devoted to identifying defects and errors in scholarly writing and citation (ma'rifat 'uyub al-ta'lif) .
Relation to Ibn al-Salah's Work and Method
The core framework of Ibn Hamdan's treatise draws upon Ibn al-Salah's (d. 643 AH) earlier work, Adab al-Mufti wal-Mustafti . While incorporating substantial portions of Ibn al-Salah's text, Ibn Hamdan reorganized the material, omitted elements he deemed unnecessary, introduced additional legal issues and rulings, provided independent preferences (tarjih), and appended entire chapters relevant to Hanbali scholarship and the pitfalls of composition .
Reception and Influence
The book became a standard reference on legal practice within and beyond the Hanbali school. Later scholars made extensive use of its classifications and rulings; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya relied heavily on it alongside Ibn al-Salah's work in the legal etiquette sections of I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, and Ala' al-Din al-Mardawi cited its classification of mujtahids in the conclusion of al-Insaf .
Printed Editions
The work was first edited by Muhammad Zuhayr al-Shawish, with hadith verification and notes by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and published by al-Maktab al-Islami in Damascus in 1380 AH / 1960 CE based on a single manuscript . A later edition was prepared by Mustafa Muhammad Salah al-Din al-Qabbani and published by Dar al-Sumay'i in Riyadh in 1436 AH / 2015 CE .
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