Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa (book)

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Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa
AuthorSayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i al-Yazdi
Original titleالعُروَة الوُثقی
LanguageArabic
Series2 vols.
SubjectJurisprudence
PublisherMu'assisat al-A'lami li-l-Matbu'at


Al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā (Arabic: العُروَة الوُثقی) is a jurisprudential book which is written in Arabic by Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i al-Yazdi, one of the greatest jurists of Shi'a in the fourteenth/twentieth century. The book is also known as al-'Urwa.

Author

Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i al-Yazdi (b. 1248/1832-3 - d.1337/1919) took the position of marja'iyya following the demise of al-Mirza al-Shirazi. During the constitutional movement, he was among the opponents of this movement. In the attacks of Italy to Libya, England to Iraq, and Russia to Iran, Sayyid al-Yazdi decreed that the Muslims had to defend their homeland.[1]

Content

The book has seventeen jurisprudential chapters. Beginning of the book is about ijtihad (being able to give a scholarly opinion on religious law) and taqlid (following a religious authority) and it contains seventy two problems which discuss about different aspects of the issue. Next chapters are about 'ibadiyyat (worshipings) like tahara (cleansing), prayer, fasting, i'tikaf, khums (religious tax), hajj (pilgrimage of mecca) zakat (religious tax) and in the next chapters it discusses about mu'amilat (dealings) like rent, mudariba (limited partnership), shirkat (contribution), muzari'a , musaqat, daman (guarantee), hawala (transfer), marriage, wasiyya (testament).

Importance

Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa was a manual of jurisprudence. After the demise of its author, in the past hundred years, it became highly noticed among the scholars and nowadays it is one of the most important books in Shi'a seminaries. It is one of the sources for advanced level of study in seminaries.

The most important characteristic of the book is its numerous problems which discuss different cases especially about al-Masa'il al-Mustahdatha (new problems). The book contains 3260 problems and apparently it is the first jurisprudential book which has organized all those problems by numbering them.[2]

Commentaries and Glosses

From the publication time till nowadays, many jurists have posed their opinions about the ideas of the book in the form of annotations and commentaries and glosses.

Translation

Publications

The book Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa has been published by different publications several times.

Notes

  1. Bihishtīsirisht, "Taqābul wa taʿāmul," p. 1-2.
  2. Yazdī, Suʾāl wa jawāb, introduction.

References

  • Bihishtīsirisht, Muḥsin & Ḥatamī, Ḥusayn. "Taqābul wa taʿāmul-i Ākhūnd Mullā Muḥammad Kāẓim Khurāsānī wa sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim Yazdī dar jaryān-i inqilāb-i mashrūṭa." Faṣlnāma-yi ʿIlmī pazhūhishī ʿUlūm-i Insānī Dānishgāh-i al-Zahrā 71 (1-22), 1387 Sh.
  • Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓīm. Suʾāl wa jawāb: istiftāʾāt wa ārāʾ-i faqīh-i kabīr Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim Yazdī. Edited by Sayyid Muṣṭafā Muḥaqqiq Dāmād et.al. second edition.Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr-i ʿUlūm-i Insānī, 1389 Sh.