Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa (book)
 | |
| Author | Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i al-Yazdi |
|---|---|
| Original title | العُروَة الوُثقی |
| Language | Arabic |
| Series | 2 vols. |
| Subject | Jurisprudence |
| Publisher | Mu'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.
- Mulhaqat al-'urwa al-wuthqa which comprise debates on riba (usury), waqf (endowment), wikala (agency), hiba (gift) etc.
- Mustamsak al-'urwa al-wuthqa, the first arguable commentary on 'Urwa by Ayatollah Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim and one of the source books which is reliable for faqihs.
- Hashiya of 'Abd Allah Mamaqani (d.1351/1932) author of Tanqih al-maqal which contains his fatwas and is published in order.
- Hashiya of Sayyid Muhammad Firuzabadi (d.1345/1926) which is published in Najaf.
- Hashiya of Mirza Muhammad b. Husayn Shaykh al-Islam (d.1277/1860) which is published separately.
- Hashiya of Shaykh Muhammad Rida al-Yasin b. Shaykh 'Abd al-Husayn Kazimi which is published in Najaf.
- Hashiya of Haj Aqa Husayn Qummi which is published in Najaf.
Translation
- Al-Ghaya al-quswa, translated by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi to Farsi which is published in Baghdad and Tehran several times.
Publications
The book Al-'Urwa al-wuthqa has been published by different publications several times.
Notes
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.