Taysir al-Bayan li-Ahkam al-Quran
- Author died
- 825 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Nawādir
Taysir al-Bayan li-Ahkam al-Quran (Simplifying the Exposition of the Legal Rulings of the Quran) is a work of legal Quranic exegesis (tafsir ayat al-ahkam) by the Yemeni Shafi'i jurist Ibn Nur al-Din (d. 825 AH / 1422 CE) .
Title and Composition
The author designated the work in his introduction as Taysir al-Bayan li-Ahkam al-Quran . The same title is recorded on the title page of the Princeton University manuscript, as well as in biographical and bibliographical references such as Isma'il Pasha al-Babani's Idah al-Maknun and Hadiyyat al-Arifin, and Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli's al-A'lam . A manuscript at King Saud University in Riyadh bears the title Taysir al-Bayan fi Ahkam al-Quran, which is also the title cited by al-Burayhi in his history . Another manuscript variant lists the phrasing Taysir Ihkam al-Bayan li-Ahkam al-Quran . Ibn Nur al-Din completed the composition of the book in 808 AH (1405/1406 CE) .
Subject and Structure
The book is devoted to deriving and explaining legal rulings (ahkam) from the Quran, integrating comparative jurisprudence (fiqh muqaran), Arabic grammar and rhetoric, legal theory (usul al-fiqh), Quranic exegesis, and hadith . It spans the major chapters of Islamic jurisprudence derived from Quranic passages, including ritual purity (taharah), prayer (salah), fasting (sawm), obligatory alms (zakah), pilgrimage (hajj), jihad, and commercial transactions (mu'amalat) .
Rather than covering all verses traditionally classified as legal rulings—which some scholars estimated at roughly five hundred—Ibn Nur al-Din omitted several for the sake of conciseness, such as when their legal implications were treated under discussion of the abrogating and abrogated (al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh) or addressed under other verses .
Method
Ibn Nur al-Din adopted an organizational approach influenced by al-Qurtubi's commentary al-Jami' li-Ahkam al-Quran, dividing verses into distinct clauses and phrases according to the specific legal issues they address, introducing them under headings such as "the first sentence" (al-jumlah al-ula) .
For each issue, he presents scholarly disagreements, attributes each position to its proponents among the Companions, Successors, and subsequent jurists, and draws upon both textual and rational arguments (al-manqul wa-l-ma'qul), including the Quran, the Sunnah, consensus (ijma'), and legal analogy (qiyas) . While affiliated with the Shafi'i school, he exercised independent preference (tarjih) and reasoning (ijtihad), occasionally favoring rulings that diverged from the standard Shafi'i position when he judged the evidence required it .
In the introduction to his work, the author expressed pride in his independent deductions, stating that none would deny the merit of what he had compiled in his time and land except an obstinate ignoramus or an envious rival .
Reception and Editions
The contemporary scholar Wahbah al-Zuhayli commended the work as a notable example of comparative jurisprudence, highlighting its scholarly balance, linguistic depth, and independent legal assessments .
The work has been edited and published in modern academic studies:
- Edited as a doctoral dissertation by Ahmad Muhammad Yahya al-Muqri at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University under the supervision of Sayyid Sabiq, and published through the Muslim World League .
- Edited by Abd al-Mu'in al-Harash and published in four volumes by Dar al-Nawadir in 2012 (1433 AH) .
Answer updated