Complete fiqh manual

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What a major treatise adds

A complete treatise does not only give the ruling: it gives the evidence, the opposing position, and the reason for the choice. That is what makes it indispensable as soon as you want to understand why one school says this and another that. In exchange it is not read end to end: you open it at the question you are working on, and you keep the volume set for years.

The major titles

Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama: a Hanbali treatise but comparative in method, setting out the positions of the other schools with their evidence. The most requested here.
Al-Majmu' sharh al-Muhadhdhab by An-Nawawi: the great Shafi'i summa, with work on the authenticity of the hadiths invoked.
Al-Mabsut by As-Sarakhsi: the Hanafi reference, in many volumes.
Bidayat al-mujtahid by Ibn Rushd: shorter, and devoted to setting out the differences alone. Many take it as the way into this shelf.
The contemporary legal encyclopaedias, arranged by alphabetical entries, giving the state of the opinions on each term.

Where to begin

Not with a twenty-volume set. The order that works is this: a simplified manual to fix the vocabulary and the order of the chapters, then Bidayat al-mujtahid or Al-Mughni opened at the question that concerns you. A major treatise taken as a first read discourages, and that is the commonest mistake on this shelf.

What to check

The editor, whose work on Al-Mughni or Al-Majmu' can represent years. The volume count, which varies a great deal from edition to edition for the same text. The presence of indexes, without which a fifteen-volume set is painful to consult. And the binding, sewn for preference.

Related shelves

For the groundwork, Simplified fiqh manual. For the differences set out for their own sake, Comparative fiqh. For the rules governing this reasoning, Usul al-fiqh and qawaid. For the hadiths invoked, Hadith. Overview: Fiqh.

Order and shipping

Real stock displayed, dispatch within 24 to 48 working hours, delivery to France, Europe and the rest of the world. For a volume set, write to us: we confirm the editor and the volume count of the copy in stock.

Which major treatise should I start with?

Bidayat al-mujtahid by Ibn Rushd: shorter than the others, and devoted to setting out the differences, which makes it the natural entry. Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama next, because it sets out the positions of the four schools with their evidence while staying readable.

Why does the same title run to 11 or 20 volumes?

Because the division depends on the publisher: type size, layout, and above all the editor's apparatus of notes. The text is the same, the volume count is not. We confirm the volume count and the editor of the copy in stock before dispatch.

Is a major treatise read cover to cover?

No, and that is not what it was written for. You open it at the question you are working on, and you come back to it over years. That is also why the presence of indexes and the quality of the binding matter more here than on a manual you finish in three months.

Is Al-Mughni a Hanbali book or a comparative one?

Both. It is attached to the Hanbali school, but its method is comparative: for each question it reports the positions of the other schools with their evidence. That is why it also appears in our comparative fiqh shelf.