al-Mughni

Summary

Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi's commentary on al-Khiraqi's Mukhtasar, his most famous commentary ¹. It stood in nine large volumes in its author's hand; most copies circulating in Ibn Badran's time ran to thirteen volumes ¹.

The method

The author writes out the question from al-Khiraqi's Mukhtasar as the chapter's heading, then explains it and shows what it evidences; then mentions what resembles it that is not in the text; shows where there is disagreement and consensus; records each imam's position; and attributes reports to the hadith scholars' books ¹. Ibn Muflih said the book is eloquent in the madhhab, and that by it the madhhab was gathered ².

Abu Umar al-Maqdisi

Shaykh Abu Umar al-Maqdisi Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Qudama, the Hanbali exemplar, brother of al-Muwaffaq; b. at Jamma'il 528, emigrated with his father and brother to Damascus when the Franks seized the Holy Land — they lodged at Abu Salih's mosque then the Mount, whence 'the Salihiyya, the Salihiyya: named for Abu Salih's mosque, not because we are salih'. He wrote out Qur'ans for his family, his brother's al-Mughni and Ibn Qutta's al-Ibana and the Khiraqi for the people without fee, preached at the Mount mosque till death, prayed seventy-two supererogatory rak'as a day, carried firewood by day and dirhams and flour by night to widows' and orphans' houses unknown to them, and prayed for rain till it came. He died the eve of Monday 18 Rabi' I 607 at eighty, his last words 'God has chosen the religion for you — die not save as Muslims'; a cloud shaded the crowd to his grave humming like bees, and but for the soldiery ringing him with swords not a shred of his shroud would have reached the grave — in a dream the Prophet said 'whoever visits Abu Umar on Friday night is as if he visited the Ka'ba'; buried at Qasyun's foot beside his father.

At a glance

Summary

The method

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Abu Umar al-Maqdisi