Posts Tagged "madhhab"
The Recension and Authentication of The Shafi’i Madhhab and the Contribution of Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami and Shams al-din Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ramli.
The phenomenon of divergent opinions exists both between the various madhahib, and within one madhhab. Had it been that there are no differences within a particular madhhab, there would not have been the need to single out certain authorities within a madhhab for the purposes of recension and authentication. But differences do exist, as stated, even within one madhhab.
Such being the case, the authorities upon whose recension and authentication reliance will be placed have to fulfil certain requirements. They will obviously have to enjoy a high degree of scholarly repute and pristine character, so as to ensure the requisite eligibility and integrity for the task. And chronologically they need to be placed at the close of a stage of development within their madhhab. It is only one who stands at a watershed juncture such as this who can comprehensively look back upon a legacy, and it is only one capable of such a comprehensive overview of a legacy who is able to perform the task of recension and authentication coherently.
In the Shafi`i madhhab there were two such junctures. The first came after the 5th century. After Imam al-Shafi`i the madhhab developed, initially in Baghdad, and then, from about the middle of the 4th century (circa 350AH) in the twin schools (called tariqahs) of `Iraq (Baghdad and Basrah) and Khurasan (Marw and Nishapur). This period culminated in the works of Imam Abu Is’haq al-Shirazi (died 476AH) in the Iraqi tariqah, and the famous Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (died 505AH) in the Khurasani tariqah.
The task of sifting through the respective fiqh legacies of the two tariqahs then fell to the lot of two scholars of the madhhab, both of whom fulfil the requirements mentioned earlier. They were Imam Abu l-Qasim al-Rafi`i of Qazwin (died 623AH) and Imam Abu Zakariyya al-Nawawi of Damascus (died 676AH).
Thus, by the end of the 7th century the fiqh legacy of the Shafi`i madhhab had undergone a complete recension. This, however, did not mean that development in the madhhab had come to an end. During the following two centuries development would continue unabated in the contributions of scholars the likes of al-Subki, al-Bulqini, al-Isnawi, al-Adhra`i, al-Zarkashi Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya and al-Mahalli. With the dawn of the 10th century there arose once again a need for recension along the lines of the first one. Again, as in the first recension, this undertaking would require the right men at the right time.
These men came to be Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (died 974AH) and Imam Shams al-Din al-Ramli (died 1004AH). Both of them were scholars of the highest competence and virtue, and they lived at the close of the second period of development of the madhhab. Therefore they were suited more eminently and capably than others to perform the undertaking of recension upon a legacy of development of which they themselves were the direct and immediate heirs.
IBN HAJAR
Shihad al-Din Abu l-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad, known as Ibn Hajar was born in 909AH at Mahallat Abi l-Haytam in the western province of Egypt. He memorized the Qur’an at an early age, as well as Imam al-Nawawi’s Minhaj. His initial studies were under the scholars of Tanta, and thereafter at al-Azhar in Cairo where he studied under the likes of Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari, Shihab al-Din al-Ramli (the father of Shams al-Din) and others. He gained a reputation for expertise in various branches of knowledge, but more especially fiqh. From Egypt he traveled for Hajj on several occasions, and eventually he migrated to Makkah where he wrote his major works, taught fiqh and issued fatwa according to the Shafi’i madhhab. His fatawa, on account of his being located in Makkah, traveled far and wide. He was an enormously prolific author whose writings include
Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, a commentary on al-Nawawi’s Minhaj
Al-Minhaj al-Qawim, a coomentary on BaFadl’s Muqaddimah
Al-Fatawa al-Fiqqhiyyah al-Kubra
Al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyyah
Sharh al-`Ubab
Fat’h al-Jawwad
a commentary on al-Nawawi’s Idah fi Manasik al-Hajj
Fat’h al- Ilah, a commentary on al-Tabrizi’s Mishkat al-Masabih
He died at Makkah in 974AH.
AL-RAMLI
Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad was born in Ramlah, a village near Manufiyyah in Egypt, in 919AH. He was the son of a famous Shafi`i faqih and mufti, Shihab al-Din Ahmad al-Ramli. His teachers include his father, Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari and al-Khatib al-Shirbini. After his father’s death he became the chief Shafi’i mufti in Egypt. Such was his eminence that many came to identify him as the Mujaddid of his century. His works include
Nihayat al-Muhtaj, a commentary on al-Nawawi’s Minhaj
Ghayat al-Bayan, a commentary on Ibn Ruslan’s Zubad
a commentary on Shaykh al-Islam’s Tahrir
a commentary on al-Nawawi’s Idah fi Manasik al-Hajj
a collection of his father’s fatwas
He died at Cairo in 1004AH.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IBN HAJAR AND AL-RAMLI
Shaykh `Ali BaSabrayn, in his book Ithmid al-`Aynayn fi Ikhtilaf al-Shaykhayn has indicated the points on which Ibn Hajar and Ramli differ. This list given by him, however, is restricted to the `ibadat only, i.e taharah, salah, zakah, sawm and hajj. The rest of their differences could be gleaned from works such as `Abd al-Hamid al-Shirwani’s hashiyah on Ibn Hajar’s Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, or al-Bujayrimi’s hashiyah on Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya’s Fath al-Wahhab Sharh Manhaj al-Tullab, as well as upon al-Khatib al-Shirbini’s Iqna`. Tabulating all of their differences here would unfortunately not be possible.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Shaykh Taha Karaan
DARUL AL-ULOOM AL-ARABIYYA AL-ISLAAMIYYAH, Western Cape (SA)
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