Ranks of jurists and scholars

[Abu Shayba]

There are some within the Hanafi's who differ about the above categories. I can't remember where I was reading it, it has something to do with Ibn Kamal Pasha who might have come up with the division or might have critiqued it

The seven-fold division was introduced by Ibn Kamal Pasha, and it was heavily criticised by Imam Marjani in his nazurat al-haq, which was then quoted and suppported by Allama Kawthari. Mufti Taqi saheb defended the division by giving it an alternative interpretation. Maulana Abdul Hayy luknawi has also quoted it in his al-nafi al-kabir with some criticisms.

Bro al-Kakazai can u mention what Imam Sindi's specific points of contention were with Allama Shami.

Thanks

[al-kakazai]

Salam

Im afraid I dont have the Introduction to the Hashiyah of Mawlana Sindhi here so cannot comment in greater detail about his concerns.

Ws

The seven-fold division was introduced by Ibn Kamal Pasha, and it was heavily criticised by Imam Marjani in his nazurat al-haq, which was then quoted and suppported by Allama Kawthari. Mufti Taqi saheb defended the division by giving it an alternative interpretation. Maulana Abdul Hayy luknawi has also quoted it in his nafi al-kabir with some criticisms.

Bro al-Kakazai can u mention what Imam Sindi's specific points of contention were with Allama Shami.

Thanks

[Ibn_Harith]

This is Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, right?

[al-kakazai]

This is Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, right?

I think the name was Ghulam Mustafa/Rasul Sindhi, or something like that.

Hashiyah of al-Quduri published out of Pakistan, recently saw a Middle Eastern looking reprint of it with a different cover.

Strangely enough the Mawlana from what I recall he criticised Ibn Abidin al-Shami and his Hashiyah, but then later goes on to praise the Lubab which is by his student (al-Maydani) and is said to be taken from/an abridgement of his teachers work!

Ws

[Husain]

The author of the book in question is Mawlana Abu Sa'id Ghulam Mustafa as-Sindhi al-Qasimi.
He was the great Pakistani Muhaqqiq and Musnid, who devoted his life to spreading the works of the great Sindhi Masters. He published Sh. Akram Sindhi's Sharh on ibn Hajr's Nuzhah an-Nazr titled "Im'an an-Nazr" as well Allamah Ja'far Bubkani's beneficial Hanafi work titled "Al-Matanah fi al-Marammah an Al-Khizanah"
He passed away a few years ago, I an not sure exactly when.

His Hashiyah on Mukhtasar al-Quduri is probably the best available Hashiyah on Quduri, being the perfect aid for a student attempting to understand this important manual.
Instead of filling the Hashiyah with detail of little benefit, Mawlana kept the Hashiyah short, yet inclusive of everything important.
I advise every student studying Quduri, to acquire a copy of this work. It was printed years ago in Pakistan, then has been recently re-typeset and printed in Beirut by Dar Ibn Kathir under the title "Sharh Mukhtasar al-Quduri". Qadimi Kutub Khana in Karachi also copied the book, however their print seems to be missing a paragraph or two. I haven't had a chance to check if this portion is missing in the Beirut edition.

Now, coming to the topic under discussion, Mawlana Gulam Mustapha started his Hashiyah with a detailed and beneficial Muqaddimah, where he discussed the madhab in detail, with a section on books of the madhab.
He then devoted a few pages to a powerful - but clearly prejudiced- critique of Allamah Ibn Abidin and his Hashiyah.

He quoted extensively from a book titled "At-Ta'lim wa al-Irshad" by Badr ad-Din al-Halabi (d. 1362 AH), which was in the "ultra-rare" category of books, having been printed once, ages ago and being totally unavailable even amongst the rare book dealers.
This book is a critique of the teaching methods and curriculum prevalent in Azhar in those days, full of benefit for an educator knowledgeable of his books, but at the same time highly harmful due to the exaggeration adopted when discussing the cons of the various books discussed therein.

His quoting from this book spurred me on to search for it and I managed to acquire a photocopy of this work- after a few years of searching- at the Juma Majid centre in Dubai, when I was there for a course on editing manuscripts.
The book has been recently reprinted in Syria and for those interested, a few copies will be available for sale at Azhar Academy (London) in the next week or so.

To understand the reasons for Mawlana Sindhi's onslaught on Allamah Ibn Abidin and his hashiyah, one would have to know the background to the matter.

Sindh always boasted great Ulama, especially in the Hanafi madhab, who inspite of the terrible desert conditions, would collect rare manuscripts from all over the world and build huge personal libraries, thereby giving themselves a solid base to work from.
One would thus find that while most other Ulama - when giving fatwa- would suffice on the famous, easily available Hanafi works, the Sindhi Ulama would reference dozens of rare works, often differing with others, due to being aware of quotes in Hanafi texts that others had never come across.

The culmination of this great legacy, seems to have come in the form of Allamah Muhammad Abid Sindhi's huge "Tawali' al-Anwar", a Sharh on Dur al-Mukhtar, possibly encompassing 60 volumes if printed!
I have a digital manuscript of it, in approximately 10000 folios (20000 pages)!
I have discussed this book here

Now, the Ulama of Sindh find it highly unfair and un-scholarly to pay so much attention to Ibn Abidin's work and leave aside the works of the great Sindhi Ulama, when the Sindhi's were masters in every field, especially Hadith and Fiqh, when Ibn Abidin was not a hadith master at all.
To add insult to injury, most Hanafi's worldwide, rely nearly completely on ibn Abidin's Hashiyah, accepting nearly anything put forward by ibn Abidin, no matter how incorrect it may be!
This formed great dislike in the Sindhi Ulama for the Hashiyah of Ibn Abidin, causing Mawlana Gulam Mustafa to attack him in that manner.

So, while the Hashiyah of Ibn Abidin definitely isn't close to as bad as claimed by Ml. Ghulam Saheb, it definitely isn't a book that should be blindly relied upon and given the final say in every matter.

As for Ml. Ghulam's praising of al-Lubab, all he said was "It is a concise, beneficial commentary", which is precisely what it is. It isn't used as a book of Fatwa, thus there was no need to discuss it from that angle. It's being a beneficial commentary doesn't make it a reliable book for Fatwa, just like Jawharah, Ramz al-Haqaiq etc.

I have uploaded Ml. Ghulams discussion on the Hashiyah and it could be read on this and this link.

I have also uploaded a few pages from at-Ta'lim wa al-Irshad.
Here is the cover, followed by this page, then this one where the Hashiyah of ibn Abidin is discussed.

[Abu Shayba]

jazakaAllah khair Mufti saheb, excellent post, very informative.
Can I ask you whether those private libraries in Sind still exist and if they are accessible or not. If not, have their manuscripts been preserved elsewhere or are they lost. Has the tawali' al-anwar ever been published and is anyone currently working on it?

Thanks

[Sunni_Student786]

Jazakallahu Khair for the excellent post Mufti Sahib. However, I do have a question regarding what is quoted below:

:.....
Now, the Ulama of Sindh find it highly unfair and un-scholarly to pay so much attention to Ibn Abidin's work and leave aside the works of the great Sindhi Ulama, when the Sindhi's were masters in every field, especially Hadith and Fiqh, when Ibn Abidin was not a hadith master at all.
To add insult to injury, most Hanafi's worldwide, rely nearly completely on ibn Abidin's Hashiyah, accepting nearly anything put forward by ibn Abidin, no matter how incorrect it may be!
This formed great dislike in the Sindhi Ulama for the Hashiyah of Ibn Abidin, causing Mawlana Gulam Mustafa to attack him in that manner.
.....

Wouldn't you think that the Ulema, as great as they are, would be above forming these types of dislikes, resentments, jealousies, etc.?

It doesn't seem befitting of people of knowledge to feel and behave that way. Or maybe I just have too idealized a view of the Ulema. Either way, do you think that you could share some of your insights on the issue?

[al-kakazai]

Salam

Mufti Husain, a related point to what you mentioned about the best Hashiyah for al-Quduri, what would your advice be regarding the Hashiyah of Shaykh Muhammad Suleiman? He appears to quote a fair bit from Jawharah al-Nayyarah and other works.

Ws

[Husain]

jazakaAllah khair Mufti saheb, excellent post, very informative.
Can I ask you whether those private libraries in Sind still exist and if they are accessible or not. If not, have their manuscripts been preserved elsewhere or are they lost. Has the tawali' al-anwar ever been published and is anyone currently working on it?

Thanks

Wa'alaykum as-salam

Yes, many of those libraries still exist in Sindh, however access to them is extremly difficult.
Mawlana Ghulam Mustafa saheb was the Sindhi master on manuscripts and after him, Mufti Idris Saheb Sindhi, the Principal of Madrasah Qasimiyyah in Kandiyaro, took up the task of cataloging and identifying the various Sindhi manuscript libraries.

It was solely through the grace of Almighty Allah, that I was granted an opportunity to be a guest of Mufti Idris Saheb who arranged for me to visit some of the private manuscript libraries in Sindh.
Such was the respect and trust that the library owners had for Mufti Idris saheb, that they allowed me to take whichever manuscripts I wanted back to Mufti Sahebs Madrasah, where I would then sit for hours photographing them!
These manuscripts are worth thousands of dollars each!

Mufti Idris saheb's hard work resulted in the recent publication of a catalogue of Sindhi manuscripts, totally around 10 000 in number.

The publishers mentioned in the English preface to the catalogue:
"Dr. Muhammad Idress al-Sindhi was the moving spirit behind the whole exercise, who has been knocking on the doors of the owners of the private collections for many years and as a result of his personal initiative it became possible to conceive this voluminous publication"
Mufti saheb very kindly sent me a copy of this work, May Allah Ta'ala reward him.

Mufti Saheb would bring tears to anyone's eyes, with his numerous stories of how he came across valuable manuscripts, that had been destroyed or left to rot, by owners who were unaware of their value. I came across many manuscripts in Sindh that were terribly eaten-up.
Here is a picture of a page from a manuscript that was just slightly eaten up.

Many of the valuable collections were destroyed in wars, fires etc, while the remainder are kept in private collections, accessible only to close associates, with many of these manuscripts being sold for huge sums to manuscript collectors from all over the world.

As a number of the great Sindhi Ulama settled down in Madinah al-Munawwarah, the libraries of this blessed city is full of rare Sindhi works.
Mufti Idris saheb visited all the main Libraries in Makkah and Madinah and attained copies of the works of the different Sindhi giants.

As for Tawali' al-Anwar, it has never been printed. Idarah al-Quran in Karachi was supposed to work on it, but don't appear to have done so.
A few Ulama in Islamabad are working on it at the moment, however this encyclopedia requires a large group of highly-skilled editors and masters in Hanafi Fiqh.

Jazakallahu Khair for the excellent post Mufti Sahib. However, I do have a question regarding what is quoted below:



Wouldn't you think that the Ulema, as great as they are, would be above forming these types of dislikes, resentments, jealousies, etc.?

It doesn't seem befitting of people of knowledge to feel and behave that way. Or maybe I just have too idealized a view of the Ulema. Either way, do you think that you could share some of your insights on the issue?

This dislike wasn't due to jealousy or personal reasons, rather it was based on Shar'i reasons ie. that it is the duty of Ulama to use reliable works and ensure that their Fatawa are accurate. The Sindhi Ulama strongly feel that reliance on Ibn Abidin's work is contrary to the principles of Ifta and compromising Shariah. This caused them to critique the Hashiyah of Ibn Abidin in this manner, to open up the eyes of their contemporaries.

Salam

Mufti Husain, a related point to what you mentioned about the best Hashiyah for al-Quduri, what would your advice be regarding the Hashiyah of Shaykh Muhammad Suleiman? He appears to quote a fair bit from Jawharah al-Nayyarah and other works.

Ws

His Hashiyah "al-Mu'tasar ad-Daruri" is too lengthy, being longer than many Shurh of Quduri. It goes too deep into unnecessary details, while at the same time omiting mention of necessary ilal, quyud etc.

[al-kakazai]

His Hashiyah "al-Mu'tasar ad-Daruri" is too lengthy, being longer than many Shurh of Quduri. It goes too deep into unnecessary details, while at the same time omiting mention of necessary ilal, quyud etc.

Briefly what would your advice be for those not having time to go through numerous works of the madhab and need advice regarding commentaries with the necessary quyud and dawabit which would help them with the limited time they have for mutala'a due to commitments.

Mention of any Urdu commentaries would also be welcome (although I am not too sure about your views on them)

Also I have heard Dr Salah Abul Hajj has recently finished an editing of al-Luknawi's 'Umah al-Riayah' in a number of volumes.

Ws