Tahrir al-Maqal fi Muwazanat al-Amal wa Hukm Ghayr al-Mukallafin fi al-Uqba wa al-Maal
- Author died
- 608 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Imām Mālik
Tahrir al-Maqal fi Muwazanat al-Amal wa Hukm Ghayr al-Mukallafin fi al-Uqba wa al-Maal ("The Rectification of Discourse on the Weighing of Deeds and the Ruling on Non-Legally Accountable Persons in the Hereafter and Destiny") is an eschatological and theological treatise by the Andalusian Maliki jurist and judge Abu Talib Aqil ibn Atiyyah al-Quda'i (d. 608 AH / 1211 CE) . The book serves as an extensive critical commentary on the eschatological treatise Maratib al-Jaza' yawm al-Qiyamah by Abu Abd Allah al-Humaydi (d. 488 AH), evaluating the theological principles governing the weighing of human deeds (al-muwazanah) and the afterlife status of both accountable and unaccountable beings .
Context and Composition
The impetus for writing the treatise arose when a student presented al-Quda'i with al-Humaydi's short work on the weighing of deeds and ranks of recompense in the hereafter . The student held the work in high esteem because al-Humaydi's teacher, Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm, had commended and transmitted it in his index (Barnamaj) . Upon examining the text, al-Quda'i concluded that both al-Humaydi and Ibn Hazm had fallen into inadvertent analytical errors and unsustainable categorizations stemming from doctrines also reflected in Ibn Hazm's Kitab al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa-al-Ahwa' wa-al-Nihal . Consequently, al-Quda'i composed the book to systematically examine, refine, and counter their arguments using scriptural and legal evidence .
Method
Al-Quda'i structured his work so that al-Humaydi's entire treatise was embedded verbatim . He presented a passage of al-Humaydi's text and followed it immediately with his own dedicated chapters (fusul) aimed at approving sound assertions, rectifying errors, completing incomplete arguments, supplying rigorous classifications, or discussing relevant matters that al-Humaydi had overlooked .
Contents and Scope
The book tackles the core theological mechanisms of divine reckoning, the weighing of good and evil deeds, and the classes of creation in the afterlife . Al-Quda'i challenged al-Humaydi's premise that all humankind is unconditionally subsumed under the three general classes mentioned in Surat al-Waqi'ah ( وَكُنتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلَاثَةً ), arguing that this division applies exclusively to legally accountable individuals (al-mukallafun) . He likewise rejected al-Humaydi's and Ibn Hazm's restriction of the "foremost brought near" (al-muqarrabun) strictly to prophets and martyrs .
To achieve an exhaustive treatment of all beings, al-Quda'i appended two major supplementary divisions that al-Humaydi omitted:
- The ruling on non-accountable human beings: An examination of those who undergo resurrection but are exempt from the standard weighing of deeds, including the insane, the children of Muslims and polytheists, and the people of the prophetic interval (Ahl al-Fatrah) who were not reached by a prophetic message, particularly the pre-Islamic Arabs of the Jahiliyyah .
- The ruling on the Jinn: An eschatological assessment of the Jinn, demonstrating that as morally accountable beings addressed by divine revelation ( يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالإِنسِ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنكُمْ ), their deeds are subject to weighing and recompense through reward or punishment .
Reception and Editions
The work was recorded under the alternative title Fasl al-Maqal fi al-Muwazanah bayn al-A'mal by the biographer Ibn al-Zubayr al-Gharnati, who praised al-Quda'i's precision and skill in debating al-Humaydi and Ibn Hazm . It was also noted by Ibn Farhun, and cited by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fath al-Bari when discussing the eschatological balancing of deeds .
The complete text survived in a manuscript held at the Royal Library in Rabat consisting of 156 folios (312 pages) . Because al-Quda'i incorporated al-Humaydi's Maratib al-Jaza', modern scholars used Tahrir al-Maqal to reconstruct and edit al-Humaydi's lost text . Tahrir al-Maqal was edited by Mustafa Bahou and published alongside al-Humaydi's treatise by Dar al-Imam Malik in Abu Dhabi (1427 AH / 2006 CE) .
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