Fiqh

Fiqh books in Arabic: how this section is organised

• What you will find here: works of Islamic law in Arabic, from worship to transactions, from family to inheritance, in their original editions and all new.
• Four schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. Every listing states the school of the work, because a book of fiqh is read within the framework of its school.
• Five genres: primer, abridgement, commentary, gloss and comparative fiqh. The genre is stated on every listing, since it determines both use and level.
• Three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, indicated on the listing according to the length, density and vocalisation of the text.
• Classical and contemporary authors: from medieval treatises to manuals written in the twentieth century for teaching.
• What you will not find: translations or bilingual editions. The catalogue is entirely in Arabic.
• Information on every listing: publisher, year, number of volumes, format, binding, vocalisation, school, genre, level.

Know your school before choosing your book

This is the first thing to know, and the one catalogues explain least.

Fiqh does not come as a single body of law. It developed within four major schools, born between the second and third centuries AH, which share the same sources but differ on points of method and on many practical rulings. A treatise of fiqh almost always belongs to one of them, and sets out the positions of that school, not those of the others.

The consequence is direct for a buyer in the West. If your family comes from the Maghreb or West Africa, your school is most often Maliki. If from Egypt, the Levant, Yemen or Southeast Asia, Shafi'i. From Turkey, the Balkans, Central Asia or the Indian subcontinent, Hanafi. From the Arabian Peninsula, Hanbali. Studying from a manual of another school is not a fault, but it means learning rules you will not apply, and it is better to do so knowingly.

Every listing in this section states the school of the work. And for books of comparative fiqh, which set out the positions of all the schools before ruling, the listing says so as well, because those are works of a different use.

Reading the cover of a fiqh book

The same subject exists in five different forms, and the titles do not always make it clear. Here is how to tell them apart.

The primer, or matn, is a treatise condensed to the extreme, often twenty to a hundred pages, written to be memorised and then explained by a teacher. It is not read on its own. The abridgement, or mukhtasar, is a reduced version of a longer work, meant to ease study or memorisation. The commentary, or sharh, is the explanation of a primer, in one or several volumes, often written centuries after it. The gloss, or hashiya, is a commentary on a commentary, reserved for advanced students. Comparative fiqh, finally, sets out the positions of the different schools on each question, with their proofs.

The rule of use follows from these definitions. A beginner needs a primer and its shortest commentary. An intermediate reader adds a fuller commentary. An advanced reader opens the glosses and comparative fiqh. Buying out of order, for instance a gloss before having memorised the primer, is the most common mistake in this section, and every listing states the genre of the work to avoid it.

The texts one starts with, school by school

Here, for each school, are the primers most studied at the start of the curriculum, as they are taught in the institutes and mosques of the Arab world. These are the ones you will find at the head of this section.

Maliki school

The Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani for worship and fundamentals, often preceded by the very brief Mukhtasar of al-Akhdari, then the Mukhtasar of Khalil for the whole of the law, a dense text that calls for a commentary.

Shafi'i school

Safinat al-Naja and the Matn of Abu Shuja' to begin, short texts vocalised in almost every edition, then Imam al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin, the reference of the school, commented on without interruption for seven centuries.

Hanbali school

Ibn Qudama's Umdat al-Fiqh to begin, then Zad al-Mustaqni', the most studied primer in the Peninsula, whose most read commentary today is that of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin, in some fifteen volumes.

Hanafi school

Nur al-Idah for worship, a brief and clear text, then the Mukhtasar of al-Quduri, which covers the whole of the law and serves as the basis for most Hanafi curricula.

Alongside these classical texts, this section offers contemporary manuals written for teaching, built like lessons, with definitions and summaries. They are often the best entry point for a reader learning Arabic, before approaching the primers themselves.

Four buying mistakes in fiqh, and how to avoid them

We see them come round again and again, and each time they cost an unused book.

The first is buying in a school that is not one's own without knowing it. The cover does not always say, nor does the author's name to someone who does not know it. The listing says it, read it.

The second is buying the commentary without the primer, or the reverse. A primer alone does not explain itself, a commentary without its text loses its thread. Many commentaries reproduce the text in full, and the listing says so.

The third is buying too big too soon. Fifteen volumes bought because they are complete remain fifteen closed volumes if the level is not there. A forty-page primer, read to the end, is worth more.

The fourth is mistaking a collection of fatwas for a manual. Collections of legal opinions, arranged by subject, are reference tools for finding the answer to a specific question. They do not replace a treatise that sets out the subject in order.

The sub-sections of fiqh

To learn: Simplified fiqh manual, then Complete fiqh manual for the evidence, Usul al-fiqh and qawaid for the method and Comparative fiqh for the differences. The four schools are gathered in Madhabs. The fiqh of worship is gathered in Pillars of Islam, chapter by chapter. Then come Family, marriage and women, Commercial transactions, Inheritance and funerals, Governance and siyasa shariyya, and for the cases Fatwas and contemporary issues and The major sins (kabair).

Buy fiqh books in Arabic from My Maktaba

Every work in this section is in Arabic, in its original edition, and every one is new. For each title, the listing states the publisher, year, number of volumes, format, type of binding, vocalisation, school, genre and level. For primers meant to be memorised, look for a vocalised pocket edition. For commentaries, check that the primer is reproduced within them.

If you do not know where to start, write to us stating your school, your level of Arabic and the time you have available. We will suggest two or three titles, no more, in the order in which to read them. And if the work you are looking for does not appear in the catalogue, send us the title: our network of booksellers covers most of the editions in circulation.