Qawa’id al-ahkam (book)

Without priority, Quality: c
From wikishia
Qawa’id al-ahkam
Authoral-'Allama al-Hilli
Original titleقَواعدُ الاَحکام فی مَعرفَةِ الحَلالِ وَ الحَرام
LanguageArabic
Series3 vols.
SubjectJurisprudence
Published1992/1413 AH
PublisherMu'assisa al-Nashr al-Islami


Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī maʿrifat al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām, (Arabic: قَواعدُ الاَحکام فی مَعرفَةِ الحَلالِ وَ الحَرام), known as Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, is a book in Arabic written by al-Allama al-Hilli (d. 726/1325), in fatwa-based jurisprudence. Some of the characteristics of this book are being problem-oriented, careful in categorizing religious issues, having simple and fluent explanation and paying attention to all chapters of jurisprudence.

Qawa'id al-ahkam was written at the request of Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin (d. 771/1369-70), al-'Allama al-Hilli’s son. At the end of the book, there is a will from the author to his son. This book was the basis of the country’s administrative law during the Safavid era. Many commentaries and marginal notes have been written on this book.

Position and significance

Qawa'id al-ahkam fi ma'rifat al-halal wa l-haram, known as Qawa'id al-ahkam, is a Shiite book in fatwa-based jurisprudence,[1] which contains all the chapters of jurisprudence from purity to diyyat [blood money]. According to Agha Buzurg Tihrani, this book is considered as one of the most valuable books in jurisprudence after the book Shara'i' al-Islam by al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli (d. 676/1277).[2] Al-Allama al-Hilli wrote this book in ten years and made it the central book in his teaching in Baghdad seminary.[3] Qawa'id al-ahkam has been the focus of great scholars of seminaries in different eras.[4] Muhaqqiq Karaki considered this book to be unique in its style.[5] Also, according to historical sources, Qawa'id al-ahkam was chosen by Shah Isma'il as the legal source for resolving governmental and religious issues in the Safavid era.[6]

Qawa’id al-ahkam is one of the famous and reliable books of Imami jurisprudence, which is a complete course of jurisprudence from purity to diyyat [blood money].[7]

The Author

Main articles: Al-'Allama al-Hilli and List of Works by al-Allama al-Hilli

Abu Mansur Hasan b. Yusuf b. Mutahhar, known as al-'Allama al-Hilli, was one of the scholars of the eighth/fourteenth century, who, according to many scholars, was an expert on intellectual and traditional sciences, and left behind numerous scientific works, including al-Mukhtalaf, al-Tadhkira and Muntaha al-matlab.[8] They have not considered anyone to be his equal in knowledge, perfection and observance of morals among scholars.[9]

Structure and content

Qawa'id al-ahkam consists of twenty-one chapters, written in three volumes,[10] containing six thousand six hundred issues.[11]

  • The second volume includes the chapters: matajir (transactions), debt and its related issues, trusts and its related issues, usurpation and its related issues, rent and its related issues, endowment and gifts;
  • The third volume includes the chapters: marriage, separation, freeing slaves and its related issues, oaths and its related issues, hunting and slaughter, obligations, qada’, hudud (prescribed punishments) and diyat (blood money);

At the end of the book, there is a complete and important will from the author to his son, Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin.[12]

Commentaries and marginal notes

Agha Buzurg Tihrani has introduced thirty five commentaries for Qawa'id al-ahkam,[13] some of which are:

Copies

  • The copy available in the library of Sayyid Hossein al-Sadr in Kadimiyya, Iraq: this copy was written by Muhammad b. Isma'il Hirqili in 706/1306-7. He read his copy before 'Allama and it was approved by 'Allama.
  • The copy available in the library of Madinat al-'Ilm, Kadimiyya, Iraq: this copy was written by Muhammad b. Muhsin Saruqi in 713/1313-4.
  • The copy available in the library of Ayatollah Ha'iri, Qom, Iran: the first volume of this copy was written by Muhammad b. Bani Nasr in 717/1317-8, and the second volume was written by Muhammad b. Muhammad in the same year.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 173.
  2. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, a-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 17.
  3. ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 5, p. 404.
  4. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, a-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 17.
  5. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 4.
  6. ↑ Ṣidāqat, "Rawhānīyyat wa taʿāmul bā hukūmat dar huqūq-i asāsī-yi ʿaṣr-i Ṣafawīyya". p. 10.
  7. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, a-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 17.
  8. ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 5, p. 397.
  9. ↑ Khāwnsārī, Rawḍāt al-jannāt, vol. 2, p. 270.
  10. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 174.
  11. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, a-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 17.
  12. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 3, p. 714.
  13. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 17-23.
  14. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 76.

References

  • Amīn, Sayyid Muḥsin al-. Aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf, 1403 AH.
  • Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. Al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa. Qom: Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
  • Khāwnsārī, Muḥammad Bāqir. Rawḍāt al-jannāt. Qom: Intishārāt-i Ismāʿīlīyān, 1390 Sh.
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Ṣidāqat, QāsimʿAlī. Rawhānīyyat wa taʿāmul bā hukūmat dar huqūq-i asāsī-yi ʿaṣr-i Ṣafawīyya. Nashrīyya-yi Maʿrifat 93. (1370).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Qawa’id_al-ahkam_(book)&oldid=176916"