On the Authorship of Majmaʽ al-fatāwā



Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr is one of the Transoxanian Hanafite authors, whose written legacy is still unstudied[1]. Carl Brockelmann mentions three books written by this author [GAL 1: 461, SB 1: 639][2]:

‒ Majmaʽ al-fatāwā, which is the subject of this study[3].

‒ Khizānat al-fatāwā. The book is said to have be an abridged form of the MF[4].

‒ al-Lubāb fi nuṣrat al-āl wa-l-aṣḥāb (The core in support of the Prophet’s house and companions). Its only preserved manuscript is kept at Cairo II, 5/314.

From the chronological point of view Ḥājjī Khalīfa (d. 1068/1657) is the first, who ascribed MF to Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr [KZ 2: 1603].

MF has come down to us in many copies worldwide[5]:

1. Princeton University’s Garrett collection MS 2402Yq (New Jersey, USA). Copied in Muharram 987/1579. 237 folios[6].

2. King Saud University MS 2136 (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). Copied in ca. 9^th/15^th century. 198 folios[7].

3. King Saud University MS 4215 (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). Copied in ca. 9^th/15^th century. 299 folios[8].

4. Feyzullah Library MS 1079 (Istanbul, Turkey). Copied in Muḥarram 847/May 1443. 189 folios.

5. The Cyril and Methodius National Library MS OR 979 (Sofia, Bulgaria)[9]. There are six blank folios in the end of the volume which attest that the copyist could not finish his copying the work. The volume ends with ammā aṣ-ṣaghīr alladhī (fol. 291r) in the al-ḥaẓr wa-l-ibāḥa chapter.

6. The Cyril and Methodius National Library MS OR 1141 (Sofia, Bulgaria), copied in 842/1438. This is an abridged version of the MF. The copyist made frequently use of the original text freely, and did not explain his method of abridgement.

While affirming the authorship of Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr, it seems prudent to call attention to some problematic matters. The main problem is to identify the personality of the author. Textual analyses of the text showed that the author is a son of ʽAbd ar-Raḥīm Abu-l-Fatḥ Jalāl ad-dīn Muḥammad al-Marghinānī (died after 651/1253) (fol. 297r) [JM 3: 277, 4: 74], an author of the famous work al-Fuṣūl al-ʽimādīya [KZ 2: 1270–1]. ʽAbd ar-Raḥīm al-Marghinānī comes from the family of Burhān ad-dīn al-Marghinānī (d. 593/1197), author of al-Hidāya.

Majmaʽ al-fatāwā also contains information regarding the scientific milieu that surrounded the author. Aḥmad referred to his uncle Niẓām ad-dīn al-Marghinānī (khālī al-qāḍī al-imām…) several times without citing the latter’s name (fol. 74r, 75r, 288v, 292v etc). Niẓām ad-dīn ʽUmar al-Marghinānī (d. after 600/1203) [JM 2: 657] is author of Jawāhir al-fiqh.

Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr’s second teacher was ʽIzz ad-dīn al-Kindī as-Samarqandī (fol. 288v) [FB 116].

Like most traditional Hanafite works, MF begins with kitāb aṭ-ṭahārah, kitāb aṣ-ṣalāh, and ends with kitāb al-farā’iḍ. More significance for historical research have chapters on “Everyday Life” (siyar) and “Prohibitions and Permission” (al-ḥaẓr wa-l-ibāḥa). These two chapters contain a lot of fatwas issued by hitherto unstudied 6th-7th/12th-13th century Hanafite jurists. They were authoritative figures of their time, but most of their works are lost. For some reasons these jurists were not included in the Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanafīya literature, and were forgotten by the next generation of Hanafites. Bearing this in mind, raising MF into the scientific debate will help us to assess Transoxanian Islamic legal literature more precisely.

Thus, owing to the MF we now know that the 10^th century Maturidite jurist ar-Rustufaghnī issued fatwas on etiquette of going to public bath house, and what to preach in gatherings (fol. 294v).

MF proves the common view among the historians of Islamic law that most legal disputes usually arose between the jurists of Bukhara and Balkh (Princeton MS fol. 22v). For instance, two rather big groups of Hanafite jurisprudents disputed over the permissiveness of ritual ablution (wuḍūʽ) in a water reservoir (ḥawḍ). The Balkh jurists, including Abū Sahl of Bukhara took the view that such a reservoir was impure (ghayr ṭāhir) while the majority of Bukharans were of the opinion that the water of such a reservoir was fit for ablution (fol. 289v).

Abū Bakr al-‘Iyāḍī is the next Maturidite theologian and jurisprudent cited in the book (fol. 4v). Proceeding with Maturidism, it is appropriate to mention aṣ-Ṣaffār al-Bukhārī (d. 534/1139)[10]. Aṣ-Ṣaffār’s influence on our author Aḥmad was very strong. In the al-ḥaẓr wa-l-ibāḥa chapter, Aḥmad extensively refers to aṣ-Ṣaffār and agrees with him on all theological questions. One of the main topics was the refutation of the exception formula by Shāfiʽites/ahl al-ḥadīth. In order to support his Hanafite view Aḥmad cites a report (riwāya) from Ibn ʽUmar (r.‘a) where the latter didn’t accept the animal sacrifice from a Muslim who did exception in faith (man yastathnī fī īmānihi). This report was quoted from Kashf al-āthār fī manāqib Abī Ḥanīfa, written by Bukharan ‘Abdullāh as-Subadhmūnī (d. 340/952) [JM 2: 344–5].

Different theological movements merged in the 6th/12th century, and the Orthodox Sunni scholars constantly refuted them in their works. Aḥmad al-Marghinānī thoroughly discussed the refuted groups in his work. The major ones of them are the najjārīya, the mujassima, the qadarīya, the mujabbira, the rawāfiḍ, the followers of Maʽmar, and the karrāmīya. Comparison of texts shows that Aḥmad al-Marghinānī copied this fragment (folios 286v.9–287r.12) word-by-word from Talkhīṣ al-adilla of aṣ-Ṣaffār al-Bukhārī.

As to aṣ-Ṣaffār again, MF might be the only source where we can read a passage from his Farsi-language Ṣakk al-janna (fol. 293r.18ff)[11]: “He should do the convention so and so….and if he says that you should not order to put him after death in the grave somewhere and in the same clothing, because whatever is found in the meanwhile reaches him, they should put it on the forehead under the turban or in something like a sheath (and leave it with him). And it is not surprising if the Almighty God blesses him and keeps him safe from the pain of the grave”[12].

MF conveys us information on which local customs were in use in Mawarā an-nahr, too. For example, the local people got accustomed to burn candles on the graves in the first mourning nights (fol. 290r)[13].

Each fatwa in the MF was issued on a specific and essential problem, and therefore reflects social-political conditions of that time. One of the main legal discussions in Central Asia was whether the local lands under the Mongols were still “Islamic” (dār al-islām) or whether they had been turned into “The Lands of Unbelief’ (dār al-ḥarb). The author opined that Central Asia is still “Islamic”:

The misfortune took place in our time by the occupation of the Islamic states by the non-Muslims. [In these states] the nature of the legal rules [to be applied] must be investigated.

The lands under their control are undoubtedly Islamic states, not dār al-ḥarb, because they [the Mongols] did not introduce non-Islamic laws [ḥukm al-kufr] there, and the judges are Muslims. Any of them who says ‘I am a Muslim’ or testifies the Islamic doctrinal formula must be accepted as Muslim.

Any Muslim who agrees with them is a sinner, but he is neither an apostate nor an unbeliever. Calling those people apostates is a great sin because it pushes them away from Islam, decreases the number of Muslims (al-sawād) and helps the non-Muslims. This is proofed by the fact that the law-giver implemented Islamic rules for hypocrites even though the revelation was clear about their hypocrisy.

The rulers [mulūk] who obeyed them of necessity are Muslims. They remain Muslims, but sinful ones even if they obeyed without necessity. And any region [miṣr] which has a Muslim ruler appointed by them is allowed to set up Friday and Holiday Prayers, to collect land tax (kharaj), to appoint judges, to marry single orphans so that a Muslim can govern the region... [14].

In this fatwā, we see references to two foreign ethnographical elements, namely to paiza (tablet of authority of the Mongols) and sarāghuj (Iranian women’s headdress).

The early Mongol period of Central Asia has brought up many eminent Hanafite jurists. Majmaʽ al-fatāwā shows that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr al-Marghinānī, too, played an important role in the development of Hanafite legal thought. In the neighbouring Khwarazm, an influential Muslim state by 1219, a great center of fiqh teaching was working out. One of the leading figures of Khwarezmian fiqh school was qāḍī Fakhr ad-dīn Badīʽ b. Abī Manṣūr al-ʽIrāqī al-Qūbaznī [JM 4: 363; KZ 2: 1886], whose Munyat al-fuqahā’ is considered to be lost. Our Majma‘ al-fatāwā contains a few quotations from Munyat al-fuqaha’ [Princeton MS fol. 23r] and al-Qubaznī, who is called Qāḍī Badīʽ [GAL SB 1: 636][15].

Moreover, MF’s authority is not limited to Transoxanian Hanafite milieu alone. The Macedonian Ottoman Hanafite jurist Kör-Müfti Pīr-Muḥammad al-Uskūbī (d. 1020/1611) cited MF more than ten times in his Muʽīn al-muftī fi-l-jawāb ʽala-l-mustaftī (= Fatāwā al-Uskūbī, Fatāwā Kūr-muftī). This shows that Ottoman jurists of the Balkan region were familiar with these works, and and wrote, to some extent, under the influence of the Transoxanian Hanafite jurists.

The results of the research stated before show that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr al-Marghinānī is an outstanding representative of Transoxanian Hanafite school. He was familiar with the peculiarities of fiqh teaching centers in Bukhara, Samarqand, Balkh and Khwarazm. Further studies on the author’s scientific milieu as well as on his works will help to shed more light on the history of post-Mongol Hanafism.

List of proper names:

ʽAbd al-ʽAzīz b. Khālid at-Tirmidhī (fol. 71v) was a direct pupil of Abū Ḥanīfa [AJ 1: 293, 2: 481–2; Kardarī, Manāqib Abī Ḥanīfa., 2: 241].

ʽAbd ar-Raḥīm al-Khatanī (fol. 72r) could not be identified. Bibliographical sources limit themselves to the information that he belonged to the Khwarezmian Hanafite milieu. Two works of the Khwarezmian origin — Qunyat al-munya (Zāhidī, d. 658/1260) and Yatīmat ad-dahr fī fatāwā ahl al-ʽaṣr (ʽAlā ad-dīn at-Tarjumānī, d. 645/1247) have mentioned al-Khatanī.

ʻAbd al-Wāḥid ash-Shaibānī, al-imām (Saudi ms 2136, f. 198r.6) [JM 2: 482, 483, № 882, 883; FB 113] lived in the second half of the 4th/10th century.

Abū ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān b. Abi-l-Laith al-Bukhārī (fol. 142v) (mid of the 4^th/10^th century) [JM 4: 65]. Abu-l-Laith as-Samarqandī (d. 373/983) narrated hadith from him in Tanbīh al-ghāfilīn.

Abū ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān is said to have been among the pupils of Māturīdī, and taught a famous theologian: al-Ḥakīm as-Samarqandī [d. 342/953]. Sometimes he is called Abū ʻIṣma b. Abi-l-Laith al-Bukhārī.

Abū ʽAlī ad-Diqāq (fol. 285r) (d. Dhu-l-qaʽda 405/May 1015) is known as shaykh of the Ṣufīs (shaykh aṣ-ṣūfīya).

Abū ʽAlī an-Nasafī, al-qāḍī al-imām (Princeton MS fol. 22v).

Abū ʻᾹṣim Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-ʻᾹmirī al-Kalābādhī (Saudi ms 2136, f. 183v.10) [JM 3: 84, 4: 58; FB 160]. He served as qāḍī in Bukhara for seven years[16].

Abū Bakr al-‘Iyāḍī (fol. 4v) [JM 3: 36–7]. His brother Abū Aḥmad Naṣr al-ʻIyāḍī is quoted more often in legal works (AJ 2: 668). Abū Ḥafṣ al-Kabīr’s (d. 217/832) great grandson Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-ʽIjlī (d. 373/983–4) even considered Naṣr as an argument to prove the correctness of the Hanafism in Central Asia [JM 3: 59].

Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Marghāsūnī (Princeton MS fol. 22v). He is author of Nawādir aṣ-ṣalāh [KZ 2: 1979].

Abū Bakr al-Warrāq (Princeton MS 23r) (d. 280/893) is a Sufi shaykh, who was born in Tirmiḏh, and lived and worked in Balḵh.

Abū Ḥafṣ al-Kabīr (fol. 4r) (d. 217/832) [FB 18–9] is one of the most frequently-cited jurists in Hanafite legal works. He is said to have produced own works on fiqh and theology, but none of them have been found so far. Abū Ḥafṣ al-kabīr studied fiqh with Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī.

Abū Ḥafṣ as-Safkardarī (fol. 4v) [JM 4: 38, 65, 222, 231]. He was a master of the famous Bukharan jurist Yaḥyā b. ʻAlī az-Zandawīsatī (d. 382/992).

al-faqīh Abū Jaʽfar (fol. 72r) (d. Dhu-l-ḥijja 392/ September-October 1002 in Bukhara) [JM 3: 192–3; FB 179; AJ 96–7] is Muḥammad b. ‘Abdullāh al-Hinduwānī. He was famous as the Minor Abū Ḥanīfa (Abū Ḥanīfa aṣ-ṣaghīr) for his deep understanding of Hanafite law. He died in Bukhara, and was brought to Balkh to be buried there. Al-Hinduwānī is one of Balkhs’ seventy shaikhs[17].

Abū Naṣr ad-Dabūsī’s (fol. 289r) full name is Abū Naṣr Manṣūr b. Jaʻfar b. ʻAlī al-Muhallabī ad-Dabūsī (d. 352/963) [JM 3: 509]. He is a master of ʻAbd al-Karīm al-Mīghī [JM 2: 457], who issued a fatwa on heretication and total cleansing of the Qarāmiṭa sect.

Abū Naṣr ad-Dabūsī is said to have issued his fatwās in Farsi.

as-sayyid al-imām Abū Shujāʻ, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Ḥamza (fol. 293v) (mid 5^th/11^th century) [JM 3: 38, 4: 53, № 1931] was a contemporary of qāḍī al-Ḥasan al-Maturīdī [JM 4: 307] and qāḍī ʻAlī as-Sughdī (d. 461/1069) [FB 65].

Abū Shujāʻs son Muḥammad (b. 437/1045–6 — d. Shawwāl 491 /September 1098) [JM 3: 317–8] was also a prominent jurisprudent. Muḥammad b. Abī Shujāʽ taught at Qutham madrasa in Samarqand.

ʻAlā’ ad-dīn al-Marwazī (Saudi ms 2136, f. 197r) studied fiqh under the prominent Bukharan jurisprudent Abū Zaid ad-Dabūsī (d. 430/1038–9) [JM 4: 416–7]. He himself taught Fakhr al-quḍāt al-Arsābandī, who died after 546/1151 [JM 3: 145; AJ 2: 585–6].

ʻAṭā’ b. Ḥamza aṣ-Ṣughdī (fol. 67r) [JM 2: 529, 530]. Biographical sources contain no information on his birth and death date. However, his fatwās on different aspects of social life are very famous and frequently cited by Transoxanian Hanafite authors. He should have lived before the mid-6th/12th century since Aḥmad b. Mūsā al-Kashshī (d. 550/1155) used to quote his fatwās in Majmūʻ al-ḥawādith wa-n-nawāzil. ʻAṭā’ b. Ḥamza taught Najm ad-dīn ʻUmar an-Nasafī (d. 537/1142) [FB 116].

Baqqālī’s (fol. 163v) full name is Abu-l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. Abi-l-Qāsim b. Bābajūk al-Khwārazmī (490–562/1097–1167) [JM 4: 392–4].

Ḥamīd ad-dīn aḍ-ḍarīr’s (fol. 297v) full name is ʻAlī b. Muḥammad ar-Rāmishī al-Quhunduzī (d. Dhu-l-Qaʻda 2, 666/14.7.1268) [JM 2: 598; FB 125]. Rāmishī was also active in Arabic grammar and wrote Mukhtaṣar an-naḥw (GAL 1: 255, SB 1: 520).

According to his nickname aḍ-ḍarīr we can assume that he was blind. About fifty thousand people are said to have gathered for his funeral.

ʽIzz ad-dīn as-Samarqandī’s (Saudi ms 2136, f. 186v.25) second occupational nickname was al-Kindī. He was muftī in Samarqand (FB 116). According to Laknawī, his only disciple is Iftikhār ad-dīn al-Bukhārī, author of Khulāṣat al-fatāwā.

al-Jubbā’ī, Abū Hāshim (fol. 45v) (d. 321/933), is a famous Muʻtazilite theologian. He is the founder of the Bahshamīya sect which is considered to be influential in Khwarazm.

Masʻūd b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad ad-Dabūsī (fol. 297v). I was not able to locate this figure to any of the bibliographical sources. However, Qurashī narrates a long anecdote of Masʻūd b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī al-Bīkandī (d. Muḥarram 4, 482/19.3.1089) with the local ruler Anushtegin [JM 3: 44–6]. His son Abu-l-Yumn was also a famous political and intellectual figure who was introduced to the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustazhir (1094–1118) [JM 3: 470].

Najm ad-dīn an-Nasafī (fol. 73r, 74r) (d. 542/1147) is the author of numerous works in Islamic jurisprudence and theology.

an-Nāṭifī (fol. 290v) is Abu-l-ʽAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad an-Nāṭifī (d. 446/1054) [JM 1: 297–8; FB 36; GAL 1: 459, SB 1: 636].

Qiwām ad-dīn, ash-shaykh al-imām al-ajall (Princeton MS 23v) is Qiwām ad-dīn Aḥmad al-Bukhārī, a father of Iftikhār ad-dīn al-Bukhārī (d. 537/1142).

Quṭb ad-dīn Masʽūd b. al-Ḥusayn al-Kushānī (fol. 74r) (d. 520/1126) was active in both fiqh and hadith subjects [JM 3: 456–7; FB 213]. He is the author of the legal work al-Mukhtaṣar al-mas‘ūdī, which is considered to be lost. His son Muḥammad (b. 490/1097 — d. Ramaḍān 552/September 1157) served as judge in Bukhara [JM 3: 367].

Rustufaghnī, Abu-l-Ḥasan ʻAlī b. Saʻīd (fol. 291v, 294v) (d. 345/956) [JM 2: 570–1, 4: 212–3; FB 65; 2: AJ 511–2] was an eminent Maturidite theologian and jurisprudent. A critical edition of his az-Zawā’id ʽala-l-fawā’id is being prepared by a Turkish Islamologist Şükrü Özen (Istanbul University).

aṣ-ṣadr ash-shahīd Abu-l-Yusr (fol. 290v). Two different scholars are known — aṣ-ṣadr ash-shahīd Ḥusām ad-dīn al-Bukhārī (d. 536/1141) [GAL 1: 461–2, SB 1: 639–40] and Abu-l-Yusr al-Bazdawī (d. 493/1100).

ash-Shaʽbī’s (fol. 294v) full name was Abū Jaʻfar Muḥammad b. ʻAmr al-Ustrūshanī (d. 404/1012) [JM 3: 294]. His Kifāya is sometimes called al-Majālis fī furūʻ al-ḥanafīya. Ash-Shaʻbī is one of a few Hanafite scholars who was honored by being appointed as judge in both Samarqand and Bukhara.

Shams al-a’imma al-Kardarī’s (197v) full name is Muḥammad b. ʻAbd as-Sattār al-Barātaqīnī al-Khwārazmī (b. Dhu-l-Qaʻda 18, 559/7.10.1164 — d. Muḥarram 9, 642/17.6.1244) [JM 3: 228–30].

an-Nawqānī (fol. 297r; MF MS Feyzullah fol. 183v) is a nickname derived from Nawqan, a small town in Tus, Iran. As-Samʽānī mentions Abū ʻAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. Naṣr b. Manṣūr aṭ-Ṭūsi an-Nawqānī, who was alive in 293/906. Abū ʽAlī an-Nawqānī entered cities of Transoxiana, and narrated hadith in Nasaf[18].

at-Timurtāshī (fol. 290v; Princeton MS 23r) is Ẓahīr ad-din Abu-l-ʻAbbās Aḥmad b. Ismāʻīl at-Timurtāshī (d. about 600/1203), muftī of Khwarazm [GAL, SB 1: 652]. He is author of Sharḥ al-Jāmiʻ aṣ-ṣaghīr [KZ 1: 562].

This Timurtāshī should not be confused to the Palestinian Hanafite jurist ʽAbdullāh b. Aḥmad al-khaṭīb al-ʽUmarī at-Timurtāshī (d. 1004/1596), author of al-Fatāwā at-timurtāshīya fi-l-waqā’iʽ al-ghazzīya.

‘Umar al-Farghānī (fol. 292v) should be identical with Niẓām ad-dīn ʽUmar b. ʻAlī al-Marghinānī [JM n2: 657]. He is a son of Burhān ad-dīn al-Marghīnānī, author of al-Hidāya.

al-Uzjandī (fol. 74r, 293r) is Shams al-a’imma Fakhr ad-dīn Ḥusain b. Manṣūr Qāḍī-khān al-Uzjandī (d. 593/1197) [JM 2: 93–4]. His Fatāwā is one of the most cited sources in Hanafite legal works.

Qāḍī Ẓahīr (fol. 289r, 289v, 290r) is Ẓahīr ad-dīn Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī (d. 619/1222) [JM 3: 55; FB 62; GAL 1: 475]. He served as muḥtasib in Bukhara. Qāḍī Ẓahīr is the author of al-Fatāwā aẓ-ẓahīrīya and Fawā’id al-Jāmiʽ aṣ-ṣaghīr of aṣ-Ṣadr ash-shahīd [KZ 2: 1226, 1298].

List of books:

al-Aḍāḥī (fol. 285r; Saudi MS 2382 fol. 194v, 195v) is written by Abū ʻAbdullāh al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad az-Zaʻfarānī (d. ca. 610/1213) [JM 2: 46; FB 60].

al-Ajnās (fol. 285r) is the al-Ajnās wa-l-furūq, which was written by Abu-l-ʻAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad an-Nāṭifī (d. 446/1054) [JM 1: 297–8].

adh-Dhakhīra (fol. 72r) means Dhakhīrat al-fatāwā of Maḥmūd ibn Māza al-Bukhārī (d. 616/1219) [KZ 2: 1619–20].

Farā’iḍ Abī Ḥāmid (fol. 72r, 297v) means ar-Risāla fi-l-farā’iḍ of Shihāb ad-dīn Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad b. Aḥmad [KZ 2: 1250]. A copy of the work is kept at Berlin 4749 [GAL SB II 973, № 16].

al-Farā’iḍ al-‘uthmānī (fol. 297v; Princeton MS fol. 238v) belongs to the qalam of Burhān ad-dīn Abu-l-Ḥasan al-Marghīnānī (d. 593/1197) [KZ 2: 1250–1]. Minhāj ad-dīn Ibrāhīm b. Sulaymān as-Sarā’ī (d. after 771/1369–70) has commented this book.

Fatāwā Abi-l-Ḥasan ar-Rustughfanī’s (fol. 34v) author is Rustughfanī (see above).

al-Fatāwā al-‘attābīya’s (fol. 4r, 291v) second title is Jāmiʽ al-fiqh [KZ 1: 567; 2: 1226]. It is written by Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-‘Attābī (d. 586/1190) [FB 36; GAL 1: 465, SB 1: 643].

Fatāwā al-Baqqālī (fol. 72r) is one of the frequently cited sources in Eastern Hanafite literature. It is written by the Khwarezmian jurisprudent Baqqālī (see above).

al-Fatāwā al-kubrā (fol. 79r) was originally written by aṣ-Ṣadr ash-shahīd (d. 536/1141). Qāḍī Najm ad-dīn Yūsuf b. Aḥmad al-Khāṣī, known as Faṭiṣ (Afṭas?; d. 634/1236–7) has abridged it as al-Fatāwā aṣ-ṣughrā [KZ 2: 1222].

Fatāwā mashāyikh Bukhārā (fol. 92r) means oral reference to Bukharan jurists’ legal opinions. al-Fatāwā al-bukhārīya (fol. 4v) should have the same meaning.

Fatāwā Qāḍī-khān (fol. 72r) belongs to al-Ḥasan b. Manṣūr Qāḍī-khān al-Uzjandī (d. Ramaḍān 15, 592/12.8.1196) [JM 2: 93–4; GAL 1: 465, SB 1: 643–4].

Fatāwā Ṣadr al-islām al-Uzjandī (fol. 72r, 74v) is different from Fatāwā Qāḍī-khān and probably belongs to Qāḍī-khān’s father Manṣūr b. Maḥmūd al-Uzjandī [JM 3: 446; FB 64–5; 209]. Manṣūr al-Uzjandī is not mentioned in biographical sources.

al-Fatāwā as-samarqandīya (fol. 74r). It is unclear whether this is an independent work or is oral reference to legal opinions of the scholars of Samarqand.

Fatāwā ash-shaikh Muḥammad b. al-Walīd as-Samarqandī (fol. 90v) is more known as Fatawa as-Samarqandī [KZ 2: 1224]. For author, see above.

al-Fatāwā aṣ-ṣughrā (fol. 285r) is an abridgement of al-Fatāwā al-kubrā [GAL 1: 475] (see above).

Fatāwā Ẓahīr ad-dīn’s (fol. 4r, 289r, 291v) author is either Ẓahīr ad-dīn al-kabīr ʽAlī b. ʽAbd al-ʽAzīz al-Marghinānī (d. 506/1112–3) or his son Ẓahīr ad-dīn aṣ-ṣaghīr al-Ḥasan b. ʽAlī al-Marghinānī.

Fatāwā Ẓahīr ad-dīn Isḥāq (fol. 73v) means al-Fatāwā al-walwālijīya [KZ 2: 1230–1]. It author is Ẓahīr ad-dīn Isḥāq b. Abī Bakr al-Walwālajī (d. 710/1310–1) [JM 1: 357; FB 94].

Fawā’id Shams al-islām (fol. 73v) belongs to Maḥmūd al-Uzjandī [KZ 2: 1298, 1301].

Ghiyāth al-muftī (Princeton MS 23v). Al-Baḥr ar-rā’iq, Fatḥ al-qadīr and Durar al-ḥukkām sharḥ Ghurar al-aḥkām contain citation from Ghiyāth al-muftī.

Hidāyat al-muftī’s (fol. 290r) full title is Hidāyat al-muftī bi-kifāyat al-mustaftī. It was written by Sirāj ad-dīn ʻUthmān b. ʻAlī al-Ūshī (was alive in 569/1173). A copy of the book is kept in Teheran at Kitābkhāna va markaz-i asnād-i majlis-i shūrā-yi islāmī, 4392.

al-Jāmiʽ al-kabīr (fol. 297r, Fe 183v) belongs to Abū ʻAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad an-Nawqānī (was alive in 293/906). No bibliographical source mentions this title.

Jāmiʽ Maḥbūbī (fol. 290v, 291r) means al-Jāmiʽ aṣ-ṣaghīr. It is written by a member of the Ṣadr ash-sharīʻa family who came to power in Bukhara after Maḥmūd Tārābī’s revolt in 1238.

Jāmiʽ Ustrūshanī (fol. 291v) means Jāmiʽ aḥkām aṣ-ṣighār of Majd ad-dīn Abu-l-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd al-Ustrūshanī (d. 632/1234) [KZ 1: 19; GAL 1: 473, SB 1: 653].

Jāmiʽ Ẓahir ad-dīn (fol. 80v) might be one of two works — i) Sharḥ al-Jāmiʻ aṣ-ṣaghīr of the Khwarezmian jurisprudent Ẓahīr ad-dīn Aḥmad b. Ismā‘īl at-Timurtāshī al-Fiqhī (d. 600/1203) [JM 1: 147, 148; FB 15; GAL SB I, p. 652, № 27a]; ii) Farā’id al-Jāmiʽ aṣ-ṣaghīr of Ẓahīr ad-dīn al-Bukhārī (for the author, see above).

Khizāna (fol. 73v) means Khizānat al-fatāwā of Abu-l-Laith as-Samarqandī (d. 373/983).

Khulāṣat al-fatāwā (fol. 71v, 295r) is written by Iftikhār ad-dīn Ṭāhir b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī (d. 542/1147) [KZ 2: 1954–5; GAL 1: 462, SB 1: 640–1]. He author was a nephew of Ẓahīr ad-dīn al-Ḥasan b. ʽAlī al-Marghinānī [FB 62].

Majmū‘ an-nawāzil wa-l-ḥawādith wa-l-wāqiʻāt (fol. 289v, 294v) is written by Aḥmad b. Mūsā al-Kashshī (d. about 550/1155) [KZ 2: 1606; GAL 1: 463].

al-Muḥīṭ (fol. 73r) is one of the most voluminous fatwa collections in Hanafite law. Its author is Burhān ad-dīn Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī (d. 616/1219) [GAL 1: 464].

al-Multaqaṭ (fol. 73r, 288v, 289r) means al-Multaqaṭ fi-l-fatāwā al-ḥanafīya of as-Samarqandī[19]. Its second title is Ma’āl al-fatāwā [KZ 2: 1813]. Carl Brockelmann suggested that there lived two persons with the same name [GAL SB 1: 655, 733]. Accroding to Ḥajjī Khalīfa, too, they are two persons: i) Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Ḥusainī as-Samarqandī (d. 556/1161) [JM 3: 409] is author of several works on fiqh (Mabsūṭ, Khalāṣ al-muftī, Jāmiʽ) as well as al-Iḥṣān and a book on the history of Balkh; ii) Nāṣir ad-dīn Abu-l-Qāsim Muḥammad b. Yūsuf as-Samarqandī al-Madīnī (d. 656/1258) is author of Maṣābīḥ as-subul [JM 2: 710; KZ 2: 1697, 1921].

Al-Muntaqā fī furūʻ al-ḥanafīya (fol. 72v, 290v, 295r) is written by Abu-l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Marwazī al-ḥākim ash-shahīd (d. Rabīʻ I 334/October 945) [JM 3: 313–5].

Naẓm (fol. 4r; Princeton MS fol. 23r) should be identified as Naẓm al-fiqh of the Bukharan jurist ʽAlī b. Yaḥyā az-Zandawīsatī (d. 399/1008) [KZ 2: 621–2; 4: 222]. The work’s unique copy is kept at the al-Beruni Center for Oriental Manuscripts in Tashkent (№ 2884).

Niṣāb (fol. 4v, 72r, 288v, 289r) is to be identified as Niṣāb al-faqīh, written by Ṭāhir b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī (d. 542/1147) [KZ 2: 1954–5].

Rawḍa an-Nāṭifī (fol. 84v) is another work by Abu-l-ʻAbbās Aḥmad an-Nāṭifī (d. 446/1054) [JM 1: 297–8].

Ṣalāt al-faqīh Masʽūd (Princeton MS fol. 22v) is written by Masʽūd b. Maḥmūd b. Yūsuf as-Samarqandī (8^th/14^th century). Ṣalat-i Masʽūdī was a main textbook in the pre-modern Central Asia.

Tafsīr al-Kawāshī (fol. 295r) is to be identified as Tabṣirat al-mutadhakkir of Muwaffaq ad-dīn Aḥmad b. Yūsuf al-Kawāshī (d. 680/1281) [KZ 1:339, 457, 480].

Tafsīr ath-Tha‘ālibī (fol. 295r) means al-Jawāhir al-ḥisān fī tafsīr al-Qur’ān of Abū Zaid ʻAbd ar-Raḥmān ath-Thaʻālibī (786–876/1394–1471).

at-Tajnīs wa-l-mazīd (fol. 289r) is written by al-Marghīnānī, author of al-Hidāya[20].

Tajrīd Ṣaḥib al-Muḥīṭ (Feyzullah MS fol. 188v; Saudi MS 2382 fol. 198r) belongs to Maḥmūd b. Māza al-Bukhārī (d. 616/1219). Ḥajjī Khalīfa mentions at-Tajrīd al-burhānī fī furūʽ al-ḥanafīya [KZ 1: 345], which is identical to the cited work.

at-Tuḥfa (fol. 291v) means Tuḥfat al-fuqahā’ of ‘Alā’ ad-dīn as-Samarqandī (d. 450/1145) [KZ 1: 271; GAL 1: 462, SB 1: 640].

Wāqiʽāt (fol. 74r) belongs to the qalam of aṣ-Ṣadr ash-shahīd Ḥusām ad-dīn al-Bukhārī (536/1141).

al-Wāqiʽāt as-samarqandīya (fol. 74r, 294v) was written by Maḥmūd Ibn Māza al-Bukhārī (d. 616/1219).

References:

AJ — ʻAlī al-Qārī. Al-Athmār al-janīya. Edited by ʻAbd al-Muḥsin ʻAbdallāh Aḥmad. Volumes 1–2. Baghdad: Dīwān al-waqf as-sunnī, 2009.

FB — al-Fawā’id al-bahīya. Edited by Na‘sānī. Cairo: Dār al-kitāb al-islāmī, n.d.

JM — Ibn Abī-l-Wafā’ al-Qurashī. Al-Jawāhir al-muḍīya fī ṭabaqāt al-ḥanafīya. Edited by ʽAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Ḥulw. Volumes 1–5. Cairo: Dār iḥyā’ al-kutub al-ʽarabīya, 1977–8.

KZ — Ḥājjī Khalīfa. Kashf aẓ-ẓunūn ʽan asāmī al-kutub wa-l-funūn. Volumes 1–2. Edited by Yaltkaya and Bilge. Istanbul, 1941.

---

[1] This research was possible thanks to support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, Freiburg University) and the Center for Advanced Study Sofia (Gerda Henkel Program).

[2] Brockelmann gives 522/1128 as date of his death. The work, however, containsquotations from works of the late 7^th/13^th century jurists.

[3] Central Asian Aḥmad al-ḥanafī’s MF should not be mixed up with at least three same titles by Ottoman scholars. They are: 1) Abu-l-Faḍl ʽAbdullāh al-Bekshahirī (MS Zahiriyya 8101) [Albani, Fihris makhṭūṭāt Dār al-kutub aẓ-ẓāhirīya, al-fiqh wa-uṣūluhu, 2: 143]; 2) Walī b. Yūsuf [KZ 2: 1203]; and 3) ʽAlī b. ʽAbdallāh al-ʽArabī al-Anṭākī (d. 1008/1599) [Hadīyat al-ʻārifīn 1: 751]. Moreover, Muḥammad ʻAyish identifies Princeton MS 864H as Majmaʽ al-fatāwā of Shams ad-dīn al-Ḥānūti (d. 1010/1601-2), too [2: 89-90].

[4] On general description of Khizānat al-fatāwā see: Sobranije vostocnih rukopisej (Tashkent, 1957), 4: 192-3. In the introductory part of the KhF Aḥmad said that “he has compiled the book on his friends’ request who wanted him to abridge the earlier Majmaʽ al-fatāwā”. I assume that by abridgment (ikhtiṣār) the author meant omission of the references.

Aḥmad also indicated that KhF was written “at the time when the ordinary people and the aristocracy confronted each other (fī waqtin waqaʽat al-fitna bayn al-khawāṣṣ wa-l-ʽawāmm). The Tashkent cataloger’s claim that KhF’s copies lack in West European libraries is not more valid.

[5] Brockelmann mentions two copies of MF – Süleymaniye 684 (Turkey) and Alexandria fiqh ḥanafī (Egypt) 51.

[6] Digitized and accessible at http://pudl.princeton.edu/objects/ww72bf13w#page/1/mode/1up

[7] http://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/makhtota/2382/1#.WEb5GtKLTIU

[8] http://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/makhtota/4513/1#.WEb5hdKLTIU. Unless otherwise noted, the reference to Majmaʽ al-fatāwā in this article means King Saud University MS 4215.

[9] Recep Cici, whose article “Sofya Kiril ve Metodi Milli Kütüphanesi’nde Bulunan İslâm Hukuku İle İlgili Yazma Eserler” // İslam Hukuku Araştırmaları Dergisi, Nr. 5 (2005), pp. 341-400, still the only catalogue of fiqh works at the CM National Library at Sofia, has wrongly identified this volume as al-Fatāwā aṣ-ṣughrā by Najm ad-dīn Yūsuf b. Ahmad al-Khāṣī, d. 620/1223 [p. 380].

[10] Ṣaffār’s Talkhīṣ al-adillah li-qawāʽid at-tawḥīd was published in 2011 by two different editors in Cairo and Beirut, respectively. His most detailed biography so far is found in ʽAbd al-Karīm as-Samʽānī (d. 562/1167) in al-Muntakhab min muʽjam ash-shuyūkh (Edited by Muwaffaq b. ʽAbdullāh b. ʽAbd al-Qādir. Saudi Arabia: Imām Muḥammad b. Saʽūd Islamic University Press, 1417/1996-7, 1: 338-47).

[11] Angelika Brodersen, who is author of a large article on aṣ-Ṣaffār also did not mention Ṣakk al-janna in the list of his books. – Das Kapitel über die „schönen Namen Gottes“ im Talhīṣ al-adilla li-qawāʽid at-tauḥīd des Abū Iṣḥāq aṣ-Ṣaffār al-Buhārī (gest. 534/1139). pp. 375-406.

[12] īn ʽahd-nāma-rā chunīn va chunīn kunad, thumma qāl: agar farmāyad tā sipas-e marg be-gūr tā-vay dar gūr nehand be-jāneb-e yā be-dān-e ṣefat-e ke āncha az ān miyān be-pālāyad be-vay berasad barābar-i pīshānī ba-zīr ʽamāme yā be-chīzī andar-gīrand ham-chunīn ghilāfī. hīch ʽajab na-buvad va agar khudāvand ʽazza va-jalla ūrā biyāmurzad va az ʽazāb-i gūr amīn kunad.

[13]ikhrāj ash-shumūʽ fi-l-layālī al-uwal ilā ra’s al-qabr bidʽatun.

[14] al-balīya al-wāqiʽa fī zamāninā bi-istīlā’ al-kuffār ʽalā baʽḍ mamālik al-islām lā budda fīhā min taʽarruf al-aḥkām. Ammā-l-bilād allatī fī aydīhim falā shakk annahā bilād al-islām, la bilād al-ḥarb, wa li-annahum lam yuẓhirū fīhā ḥukm al-kufr, bal al-quḍāt muslimūn. wa-man qāl minhum ʾanā muslim’ aw yashhadu bi-l-kalimatain yushhadu bi-islāmihi. wa-man wāfaqahum min al-muslimīn fa-huwa fāsiqun ghair murtadd wa-la kāfir. wa- tasmiyatuhum murtaddīn min akbar al-kabā’ir li-annahū tanfīr ʽan al-islām wa taqlīl al-sawād wa-ighrā’ ʻalā-l-kufr. wa-kafā bi-dhālika ḥujjatan ijrā’ aḥkām al-islām min ṣāhib ash-sharʽ ṣallā llāhu ʽalaihi wa-sallam ʽalā-l-munāfiqīn maʽa al-waḥy al-nāṭiq bi-nifāqihim.

wa-l-mulūk alladhīna yuṭiʽūnahum ʽan ḍaruratin fa-hum muslimūn, wa-in kāna min ghair ḍarūratin fa- kadhālika aiḍan wa-hum fussāq. wa-kullu miṣrin fīhi wālin muslim min jihatihim yajūz minhu iqāmat al-jumuʽa wa-l-aʽyād wa-akhdh al-kharāj wa-taqlīd al-quḍāt wa-tazwīj al-ayāmā al-aitām li-istilā’ al-muslim ‘alaihi.

wa-ammā ṭāʽatuhu li-l-kafara fa-dhālika muwādaʽa aw mukhādaʽa.

wa-amma bilād ‘alaihā wulātu kuffārin fa-yajūz li-l-muslimīn iqāmat al-juma‘ wa-l-a‘yād aiḍan. wa-yaṣīr al-qāḍī qāḍiyan bi-tarāḍī al-muslimīn. wa-yajibu ‘alaihim an yaltamisū wāliyan musliman.

wa-amma labs al-sawād wa-labs al-sarāghuj wa-taʽlīq al-bāiza [= al-payza] wa-hiya al-lawḥa aṣ- ṣaghīra allatī tuʽallaqu ʽala-l-wasaṭ min aiyi shay’in kāna fa-huwa amāratu milkīyatin la yataʽallaqu bi-l-dīn wa-l- milla ka-aṣnāf al-qalānis li-aṣnāf al-nās. wa-ʽasā an ya’tiya bi-l-fatḥ aw amrin min ʽindahū fa-yuṣbiḥūna ʽalā mā asarrū fī anfusihim nādimīn.

Indeed, this long extract is copied word-for-word from al-Multaqat of Nāṣir ad-dīn as-Samarqandī (Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʽilmīya, 2000) p. 254-55.

[15] Qāḍī Badīʻs authority on Aḥmad was emphasized in Khizānat al-fatāwā, too.

[16] Heinz Halm, Die Ausbreitung der safiʽitischen Rechtsschule von den Anfängen bis zum 8./l4. Jahrhundert (Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, l974), p. 105.

[17] Wāʽiẓ-i Balkhī, Faḍā’il-I Balkh, 292.

[18] al-Ansāb (Hyderabad: Maṭbaʽat Dā’irat al-maʽārif al-ʽuthmānīya, 1397/1977) 13: 206-7.

[19] Edited by Maḥmūd Naṣṣār and as-Sayyid Yūsuf Aḥmad (Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʻilmīyah, 1420/2000).

[20] Edited in two volumes by Muḥammad Amīn Makkī (Islamabad: Idārat al-Qur’ān wa-l-ʻulūm al-islāmīya, 1424/2004).