Gateways to the Tradition: Three Classical Texts

About the Text

The Multaqā al-Abḥur gathers the four mutūn muʿtabarah into a single text, noting the school's main tarjīḥāt and its major internal differences. That makes it one of the most efficient ways to cover the furūʿ of the school, and we will study it in full.

Why This Text?

The Multaqā gathers the four mutūn muʿtabarah into a single text and arranges their masāʾil ideally, with the key definitions, maxims and categorizations placed exactly where they are needed. Less time goes into unpacking the masāʾil themselves, and more into the deeper fiqh behind them.

It is also served by a remarkable body of commentary. Majmaʿ al-Anhur of Shaykhī Zādah (d. 1078) and al-Durr al-Muntaqā of al-Ḥaṣkafī (d. 1088) lay out the masāʾil, their details, their reasoning and their related furūʿ so well that a teacher of Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī or al-Mukhtār may well find them more useful than many of the commentaries written on those texts themselves.

How We Study It

The focus is on the legal reasoning behind each ruling. Differences within the school are traced back to the principles underpinning each chapter (ḍawābiṭ), and to the wider qawāʿid fiqhiyyah and uṣūl al-fiqh.

Who It's For

Lower-intermediate students of Ḥanafī fiqh who want a firm, reasoned grasp of the school's furūʿ.

Format

Live online, in English: Wednesdays at 9:00 PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM (Eastern Time), starting Wednesday, October 21, 3–4 hours a week in total, over about 12 months, in shāʾ Allāh. You'll have access to all recordings, along with the relevant materials for each class (rasāʾil and books referenced). Timings change only with the students' consensus, never at any student's expense.

Can I Really Study the Hidāyah After This?

The Multaqā gives students a clear picture of the body of furūʿ, and the accompanying taṣḥīḥ and iftāʾ preferences, that the later school settled on, while its efficient organization frees up time for deeper discussion of the reasoning behind each ruling. Studied in this light, students can reasonably be expected, in shāʾ Allāh, to be ready for our forthcoming course on the Hidāyah.

About the Text

Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbī's (d. 741) Taqrīb al-Wuṣūl is studied together with its later Ḥanafī rendition by al-Arḍurūmī (d. 1202). Reading the two side by side lets students learn Ḥanafī uṣūl while seeing it in light of the wider backdrop of the jumhūr, focusing on the parallels more than the differences.

Why This Text?

Taqrīb al-Wuṣūl is a comprehensive overview of the issues discussed across every chapter of uṣūl, written in remarkably clear language. Ibn Juzayy summarizes the major discussions of the science masterfully and quotes from a range of major uṣūl works; together with the editor's notes, this lets students use it as a springboard into the wider tradition. Along the way, he often adds useful insights of his own.

How We Study It

Concepts come first. Before discussing any difference or ruling on a topic, we delineate the concept itself: is an ʿāmm a kullī, a kulliyyah or a kull? Only then do we turn to its implications, such as how it shapes our understanding of naskh. Throughout, we draw out the common factors and starting points scholars share even in their differences, and apply uṣūl in practical case studies.

Who It's For

Students who have had an introduction to uṣūl and now want to go through every chapter of the tradition in a comprehensive and detailed manner. Designed with Ḥanafī students in mind, though students of all schools will benefit.

Format

Live online, in English: Saturdays at 2:30 PM (Eastern Time), starting Saturday, October 24, 1–1.5 hours a week, over about 12 months, in shāʾ Allāh. You'll have access to all recordings, along with the relevant materials for each class (rasāʾil and books referenced). Timings change only with the students' consensus, never at any student's expense.

What Comes Next

A stepping stone to more advanced works such as al-Manār, Minhāj al-Wuṣūl or Mukhtaṣar Ibn al-Ḥājib.

About the Text

ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-ʿIrāqī (d. 806) prepared the Taqrīb al-Asānīd for his son Walī al-Dīn: 416 aḥādīth, mostly on legal topics, built on just 16 chains drawn from the Muwaṭṭaʾ and the Musnad of Aḥmad. Returning to the same chains again and again makes the narrators familiar and the isnāds easy to retain, making it the ideal first step into the world of isnād and the textual analysis of ḥadīth.

How We Study It

The class introduces students to isnād, ʿilal and the craft of ḥadīth commentary. As the aḥādīth are largely legal, the rulings drawn from them, and the differences over them, are assessed in light of uṣūl al-fiqh.

The Commentary

Our main companion is Ṭarḥ al-Tathrīb, the author's own commentary, completed after his death by his son. It is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest ḥadīth commentaries ever written, and was relied upon by Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bārī, though not always quoted. Drawing on the major sources of ḥadīth commentary and criticism, the author(s) organize the discussion under each ḥadīth into numbered points (fawāʾid), much like the Tafsīr of Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Qurṭubī (d. 671). An encyclopedia of ḥadīth and fiqh in its own right, it is a clear and engaging segue into the major commentaries of ḥadīth, especially those on the Muwaṭṭaʾ such as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's (d. 463) al-Tamhīd and al-Istidhkār.

Who It's For

Students who have studied the introductory Islamic sciences, would like to begin an academic study of ḥadīth, and aspire to move on to the larger works: the Muwaṭṭaʾ, the Ṣaḥīḥayn and the Sunan.

Format

Live online, in English: Thursdays at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time), starting Thursday, October 22, 1–1.5 hours a week, over about 12 months, in shāʾ Allāh. You'll have access to all recordings, along with the relevant materials for each class (rasāʾil and books referenced). Timings change only with the students' consensus, never at any student's expense.

What Comes Next

The Muwaṭṭaʾ, which students will then be ready to read alongside those great commentaries.