Tuhfat al-Fuqaha
- Author died
- 540 AH
- Editions
- دار الكتب العلمية
Tuhfat al-Fuqaha (A Gift for the Jurists) is a classical manual of Hanafi substantive law (furu' al-fiqh) by the Transoxanian jurist Ala al-Din al-Samarqandi (d. 539 AH / 1144 CE; also reported as 540 AH) .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, al-Samarqandi states that Mukhtasar al-Quduri by Abu al-Husayn al-Quduri (d. 428 AH) was a widely circulated and practical summary of Hanafi jurisprudence relied upon by contemporary scholars . Because of its popularity, colleagues and students requested that he compose a work supplementing the legal classifications (aqsam al-masa'il) that al-Quduri had omitted, resolving ambiguous points, and supplying robust textual and rational proofs (dala'il) . Al-Samarqandi titled the work Tuhfat al-Fuqaha as a parting gift to his students and peers upon their return to their home regions .
Methodology and Structure
The work is organized systematically according to the traditional sequence of substantive jurisprudence chapters, opening with ritual purification (taharah) and proceeding through the full range of devotional acts, transactions, and personal status law . Al-Samarqandi sought an intermediate style that avoided tedious length while avoiding excessive brevity . His method is distinguished by:
- Deriving and linking legal sub-branches (furu') systematically back to underlying legal principles and categorizations .
- Enumerating explicit conditions (shara'it) and normative practices (sunan) for legal acts into detailed subsets .
- Citing comparative positions across other schools of jurisprudence, particularly those of al-Shafi'i and Malik, alongside the internal transmissions (riwayat) of the Hanafi school .
Reception and Commentaries
The book gained significant esteem within the Hanafi tradition. Al-Samarqandi's daughter, the scholar and jurist Fatima bint al-Samarqandi, memorized the work under her father's instruction . His foremost student, Ala al-Din al-Kasani (d. 587 AH), authored an extensive commentary on it titled Bada'i al-Sana'i fi Tartib al-Shara'i . When al-Kasani presented the commentary to al-Samarqandi, the author was so pleased that he accepted it as his daughter Fatima's marriage dowry, prompting contemporary scholars to coin the phrase: "He commented on his Tuhfa and married his daughter" (sharaḥa tuḥfatahu wa-zawwaja ibnatah) . Al-Kasani's commentary was later abridged by Shah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi al-Su'ud al-Manastiri under the title Mujarrad al-Bada'i wa-Mulakhkhas al-Shara'i .
Modern Editions
Tuhfat al-Fuqaha was edited and published in three volumes by Muhammad Zaki Abd al-Barr in Damascus (1958), and later reissued with hadith documentation by Muhammad al-Muntasir al-Kattani and Wahbah al-Zuhayli .
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