1.0 THIS IS THE SUMMARY OF FIQH
“This is the summary”: To make matters brief is a skill that is highly appreciated. ‘Ali said, “The best of speech is that which is condense but expansive in content.” Allah (swt) endowed His Messenger with this talent. He used to utter short phrases that bear deep meanings You can see how the ahadith are mere sentences while the commentaries can be multiples volumes in length.
This talent is something that all scholars should try to cultivate in themselves. They should make their lessons and sermons short and concise; especially the Friday sermon. The Prophet(pbuh) said, “Verily lengthening the prayer and shortening the sermon bear testimony to one’s knowledge of the din, so lengthen your prayer and shorten your sermon.” (Reported by Muslim (3/12), Ahmad (4/263) and Ibn Khuzaymah (1782) from the narration of Ammar ibn Yasir.) The brief and concise speech by the scholar or mufti is better and more beneficial than a long lecture.
“Of fiqh”: This is not [the fiqh that is related to] the oneness of Allah, as tawhid is addressed in the books related to aqiqah.
“Fiqh”: It is the knowledge of the rules in Islam and its proofs and evidences.
The scholars placed high value upon concise treatises as they are easier to memorise and so that the student can study in a graded manner. In order for the student of knowledge to best absorb knowledge, he should study small portions. Overloading oneself with information is of no benefit. He can start with the concise treatises and progress to the more detailed books and in-depth explanations. A gradual approach to studying knowledge (tadarruj) is the most efficient and effective. There is a saying which states, “Whoever forgoes the basics (the usul) is denied achievement (the wasul).”
The usul in terms of seeking knowledge is these brief treatises. The scholars used to take advantage of concise treatises in all of the fields of study; namely fiqh, aqiqah, Arabic grammar (nahwu), inheritance (mawarith) and the fundamental laws {usul al-fiqh). All fields of study will have these brief introductions that pave the way for more in-depth study and understanding. There are those who consider these to be too condensed and disregard them, beginning with the longer texts instead. These people have set themselves up for failure for they have not adopted the correct methodology. They have not entered into the path of knowledge through its correct door. Allah says: {And it is not righteousness to enter houses from the back, but righteousness is [in] one who fears Allah. And enter houses from their doors. And fear Allah that you may succeed.} (Baqarah: 189)
Each science has a unique method to attain its mastery. Islamic knowledge should start with concise treaties. These treatises are very important to the beginner student of knowledge.
From Muqni’ of the Imam al-Muwafaq Abu Muhammad.
“From Muqni”-. Meaning, from the book called Muqni’ by Imam Muwafaq al-Din, Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi (His detailed biography is in Siyar A’lam al-Nubala by al-Dhahabi (22/165) and al-Wafa bil Wafiyat by al-Safdi (17/37), al-Bidayah wa Nihayah by Ibn Kathir (13/99) and Dhil al-Tabaqqat al-Hanabilah by Ibn Rajab and many other references.), who was the imam of the Hanbali madhab in his era. He has authored books on this madhab which are well-known by students of knowledge. These books are in various levels that gradually help a student along his quest for knowledge.
Firstly, there is Umdah al-Fiqh which is restricted to one view of the imam. At the next level, students use al-Muqni’ which explores more than the first book. It mentions two or more views of a particular issue. He then authored al-Kafi in which all the different views pertaining to each fiqh issue are discussed. In this book students are exposed to the proofs and evidences from the Qur’an and hadith which form the Hanbali madhab. After this comes al-Mughni, which presents the views of all of the four imams and the imams of the Tabi’in. W hen a student reaches this stage and benefits from this book, he assumes the role of faqih, discarding the tag of student.
On just one view.
This is the style found in concise treatises. They do not mention many views for a particular issue. For the beginner has to be fed with one portion of knowledge at a time. It is best that he is introduced to knowledge in a gradual fashion. This is the very objective of concise treatises and the nurturing scholars (rabbaniyun) taught using it. Allah says: {Be you rabbaniyyun, because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it.} (Ali ‘Imran: 79)
Some from the salaf said, “Scholars who nurture (i.e., rabbaniyyun) are those who teach the beginning portions of knowledge before progressing to teach the more advanced portions.”
We see in present times; the so-called student of knowledge starts his journey of knowledge with voluminous books and books that discuss the differences of opinion. They never read the concise treatises. These people will not gain anything. As the saying goes, “Whoever forgoes the basics is denied achievement.” It is also said, “Memorise the core lessons and it will strengthen the intellect.” Memorising these core lessons is a must. Learn them from the scholars. Stay clear from those who discourage the memorisation of these lessons. Indeed, memorisation is the basis of knowledge.
It is the preferred view in the madhab of Ahmad. Perhaps I omitted from it seldom occurring issues and added more of a similar type that can be relied upon.
“It is the preferred view”: This is the view chosen by the author who summarised al-Muqni. It is preferred in accordance to the madhab of Ahmad. It might not really be the preferred view. However, the author assumes so. Alhamdulillah it is the preferred view more often than not. In some cases, the view less preferred is chosen. This is well-known.
“Ahmad”: This refers to the leader of the madhab, Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani. He was one of the four great imams and a great reporter of hadith. He was a muhadith and a faqih. He was known as Abu ‘Abdullah. Shaybani refers to Shayban ibn Dhuhul, one of his grandfathers.
Imam Ahmad was born in Baghdad and grew up there. He left for Makkah in search of knowledge, then to Madinah and then to Yemen. He met with those who had memorised the hadith and the narrators. He narrated the hadith from them and soon was regarded as an authority on hadith and was known as the imam of Ahlus Sunnah.
Among his students were Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Imam Abu Dawud and Imam al-Tirmidhi. These were the students who learnt hadith from Imam Ahmad. He also had many students who learnt fiqh from him and followed his madhab.
He has authored many books, the most important of which is his hadith collection al-Musnad. He compiled thirty thousand ahadith of the Prophet(pbuh). It was called al-Musnad because it includes narrations from each companion in one section. Another significant book of his is al-Tafsir bil Athar which contains one hundred and fifty thousand ahadith of the Messenger of Allah(pbuh). This book focuses on exegesis of the Qur’an. (It was printed in four large volumes)
His book Rad ala Zanadiqah wal Jahmiyah is still in print now. However, Imam Ahmad did not author a book on fiqh. This was due to his modesty. His students penned down verbatim his lessons, rulings and letters containing answers to questions sent to him from far and wide. These students then compiled all these resources, which also included his answers to questions from other scholars who lived during his time. Five students in particular exerted great effort in this compilation: Imam Ahmad’s sons Abdullah and Salih, al-Marwadhi, al-Athram and al-Harbi. These five individuals narrated the most from Imam Ahmad, thereby preserving the madhab.
“Perhaps I omitted from it”: Referring to al-Muqni’.
“Seldom occurring issues”: That are very unlikely to happen.
“And added more of a similar type that can be relied upon”: Replacing them with more frequently occurring fiqh issues. This inevitably required taking content from other than al-Muqni’ and this approach is called ziyadat al-mukhtasir (additions to the concise treatise). These are very few in number and for this reason he said “perhaps”, indicating that it is indeed rare. He did not mention the omissions here as there was no pressing need. Likewise, the scholar should devote his attention to issues that are pertinent to the people. As for seldom-occurring issues and problems, he should consider them less important. Similarly, the student of knowledge should study and ponder over problems that are relevant and that happen often in daily life. Problems to which the solutions are sought by the people. These two books, al-Muqni and al-Mukhtasar (i.e., Zad al-Mustaqni) are amongst the most significant books of the Hanbali madhab.
“Al-Muqni”: This book has been accepted by the people and its value is revealed by the many commentaries written on it. Here are a few examples of these books: (i) Al-Sharh al-Kabir by Shams al-Din Abdul Rahman ibn Abi ‘Umar. This commentary was published, (ii) Al-Insaf by Mardawi. This book explains the differentiation between the preferred view and the view that is not preferred in the disputed fiqh issues, (iii) Al-Mumti Sharh al-Muqni by Ibn Munaji, this is also published, (iv) Al-Mubdi’ fi Sharh al-Muqni’ by Ibrahim ibn Muflih, who is from the family of Muflih. This book was also published. These are the well-known commentaries.
“Al-Mukhtasar”: The concise treatise we are studying now has only one commentary that I know of. It is al-Rawd al-Murbi’ Sharh Zad al-Mustaqni’ by the shaykh of the Hanabilah in his era, Mansur ibn Yunus al-Bahuti. It is said that Shaykh Sulayman ibn ‘Ali, the grandfather of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab wrote a commentary for Zad al-Mustaqni’ but when he came across the book of al-Bahuti, he destroyed his book and relied upon al-Bahuti’s commentary. This was mentioned by Ibn Bishr in his book that covered historical events. And Allah knows best.
Al-Bahuti’s book was preferred by the scholars and they have added many postscripts (hashiyat) to the book. An example of this is the postscript by Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdul Rahman Abu Buthayn, the mufti of Najd in his era and this was published. He also did a postscript for Zad al-Mustaqni. There is also the postscript of Shaykh ibn Fayruz al-Ahsai’ of the book Sharh al-Zad, however he did not complete it. Many postscripts have been added to the commentary of Zad al-Mustaqni. One particular person who gave it much importance was Shaykh ‘Abdullah al- ‘Anqari, the judge of the Sadir province.
He compiled all of these postscripts into one book calling it Hashiyat al-‘Anqari which was then published. The last of those who did these postscripts was Shaykh ‘Abdul Rahman ibn Qasim, a student of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim. He was well known and his work was published. His postscripts had a wide scope and were full of information from the books of the madhab and the preferred opinions of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah be pleased with them both).
Ambition has decreased and the hindrances to achieving the objectives have increased.
In other words, “I have done this deed; the deed of authoring this brief treatise, removing the seldom -occurring fiqh issues and adding issues that are more frequently occurring.” He did so because al-himam (ambition) to acquire knowledge has decreased. These students require someone to make it more accessible for them. People in the first era had a great liking for fiqh and sought it. They did not need concise treatises. In fact, they used to memorise the original long versions.
As time passed by, the interest for knowledge waned and people preoccupied themselves with other things besides it; fulfilling the prophecy of the Messenger of Allah(pbuh) who said, “There won’t come a time except that it will be followed by a period worse than the former.” (Reported by al-Bukhari (9/61), Ahmad (3/117,132) and al-Tirmidhi (2206) from the hadith of Anas.) And his saying, “Verily Allah will not snatch this knowledge by removing it from men’s heart but He will snatch it through the death of scholars” (Reported by al-Bukhari (1/36), (9/123), Muslim (8/60) from the narration of Abdullah ibn Amr.) [Also, that] at the end of time, “Reciters [of the Qur’an] will be many but the fuqahah will be less in number.” (Reported by al-Tabarani in al-Mujam al-Awsad (3277) from the narration of Abu Hurairah.)
“And the hindrances to achieving the objectives have increased”: As time passed and heedlessness and laziness increased, it was necessary to facilitate the acquiring of knowledge from the lengthy books. Hence, they were summarised into brief treatises. This was done to assist the student of knowledge and it is incumbent upon the scholars to modify the methods of dissemination of knowledge according to the era. These [summaries are] a direct result of the lack of interest in learning lengthy books, and voluminous works which students of times gone by treasured and memorised for they held the acquiring of knowledge in high esteem.
The student’s hunger for knowledge will never be satiated; as in the hadith, “The greed of two people will never be satiated: the seeker of knowledge and the seeker of this world.” (Reported by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (10/223) from the narration o f ‘Abdullah ibn Masud)
Since people are busy with business, corruption and servitude to their desires, they stopped giving their attention to seeking knowledge. They became ensnared by relaxation and leisure. This is the prevailing condition and there is neither power nor might except with Allah.
Though small in size, it contains that which is in the original text, freeing it from the need of being lengthy. There is no power or might except with Allah, who is sufficient for us and the best trustee.
“Though small in size, it contains that which is in the original text”: Do not underestimate the impact of the concise treatise. Though compact in size it contains the same information found in voluminous books. Information is summarised and the wording is made brief wherever possible.
Hence this concise treatise which the author referred to has five distinguished traits:
First: It is from the book al-Muqni’ which is the basis for the Hanabilah.
Second: It contains one view (per fiqh issue). Differences in views and refutations which could confuse students are not discussed.
Third: It contains only the preferred view substantiated by proofs and evidences in accordance to the madhab of Imam Ahmad. This style gives the student the confidence to rely on the book given the impression that the book contains only preferred views.
Fourth: Seldom-occurring fiqh issues have been removed and, in their place, more frequently occurring issues have been inserted. It makes the book more practical and relevant as a reference to problems faced in daily life. Issues of rarity ought to be discussed in the longer texts.
Fifth: Even though it is compact in size and with fewer pages, this treatise matches the knowledge found in the original text. If you were to study this concise treatise well, it will lay the foundation for you to grasp what is in the original text because al-Muqni’ is but an explanation of this treatise.
These five distinguished traits that have been mentioned by the author are indeed unique to the treatise.
“There is no power or might except with Allah, who is sufficient for us and the best trustee”: The author concludes the introduction with these great words. The meaning of it is that there is no power [to alter] one situation to the next except with Allah. Without Allah’s help, a jahil cannot become a scholar, a pauper cannot become rich and the sick cannot become healthy except with Allah’s grace and mercy. It is done only with aid from Allah. Might and power are the sole prerogative of Allah.
“Who is sufficient for us and the best trustee”: “Hasbuna” means sufficient and “ni’mah al-wakil’ means One who is relied upon for all of our affairs. These words were mentioned by Ibrahim 8&S’ when he was thrown into the fire. Muhammad(pbuh) uttered it when it was said to him: {Those to whom hypocrites said, “Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them.” But it [merely] increased them in faith, and they said, “Sufficient for us is Allah, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.”} (Ali ‘Imran: 173) (Reported by al-Bukhari (6/48) from the narration of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas.)
W hat was the outcome then for both Ibrahim and the Messenger of Allah(swt)? Regarding Ibrahim’s outcome, Allah said: {O fire, be coolness and safety upon Ibrahim.} (Al-Anbiya: 69) As for the Messenger of Allah(swt) and his Companions, Allah says: {So they returned with favour from Allah and bounty, no harm having touched them. And they pursued the pleasure of Allah and Allah is the possessor of great bounty.} (Ali ‘Imran: 174)
By Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan
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