Foundations of Jurisprudence
An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal Theory

Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥasan ibn Sadīd al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Zayn al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī
Introduction, Translation, and Arabic Critical Edition by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

A profoundly important and influential text in Shia legal thought and the wider intellectual history of Islam, Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl, composed during the eighth/fourteenth century, set the standard for the subsequent development and discussion of Imāmī Shīʿī legal theory, such that its influence can be traced through to modern times. The author, Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥasan b. Sadīd al-Dīn Yūsuf b. Zayn al-Dīn ʿAlī b. al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī (d. 726/1325) was a formidable and prolific scholar, jurist, and theologian of the Imāmī Shīʿī School of Ḥillah, whose unrivalled mastery of the Islamic sciences earned him the unique title of al-ʿAllāmah, or ‘Doctor Maximus’. Born into a distinguished scholarly family in the Iraqi town of al-Ḥillah, near Baghdad, al-Ḥillī received his early education from his father Sadīd al-Dīn Yūsuf b. ʿAlī b. al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī, himself a scholar of high standing, and his maternal uncle Najm al-Dīn Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan b. Abī Zakariyyā Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥasan b. Saʿīd al-Ḥillī (d. 676/1277), known as al-Muḥaqqiq (the Verifier), who was one of the great Imāmī figures of the age. By his own account, al-Ḥillī continued his education in Maragha under the tutelage of the great astronomer, architect, and theologian Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274) before finding favour at the court of the Mongol ruler Uljaytū Khān (r. 704–716/1304–1316) where he became a part of the ‘travelling school’ (al-madrasah al-sayyārah), a company of trusted scholars tasked with accompanying and advising the Khān on religious and intellectual matters. The end of al-Ḥillī’s life was spent teaching and writing in his hometown and, by the time of his death, his reputation as the most influential Ithnā ʿAsharī Shīʿī scholar of the day was secure. He authored more than 120 works in many intellectual fields including theology (kalām), philosophy, logic, law, ḥadīth, and Qurʾānic exegesis (tafsīr). Al-ʿAllāmah was a key figure in the School of Ḥillah, building on his maternal uncle al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī’s work and making profound contributions of his own, including the application of mathematical principles to problems such as the division of inheritance and the calculation of the times of prayer, as well as his introduction into Shīʿī law of a new system for classifying the reliability of traditions.

In Foundations of Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal Theory, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, offers a complete resource for the study of al-Ḥillī’s Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl, presenting not only a critical edition of the Arabic text with a parallel English translation but also a comprehensive 50,000-word introduction. A standalone work in its own right, this critical introduction presents a thorough analysis of each discussion and chapter of the Mabādiʾ, drawing out the parallels and areas of intersection between this text and al-Ḥillī’s most extensive contribution to Islamic jurisprudence, namely, the five-volume Nihāyat al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl. Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi’s analysis masterfully contextualises the adroit discussions found in the Mabādiʾ, presenting the text as the foundation of al-Ḥillī’s magnum opus of Imāmī Shīʿī jurisprudence in the Nihāyat and demonstrating how the core issues examined by al-Ḥillī remain to this day essential to a legal and seminarian education and contemporary scholarly debates. For the first time, Foundations of Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal presents clear terms and definitions for the study of the legal nomenclature of uṣūl al-fiqh.

Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi’s edition is based upon six manuscripts of the Mabādiʾ located at: Marʿashī Library in Qum, Iraq; Astānah-yi Quds-i Raḍawī Library in Mashhad, Iran; the British Library in London; and Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ Foundation in Najaf, Iraq, select images and transcriptions of which are included in an Appendix. Foundations of Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal Theory is the first authoritative account of al-Ḥillī and his work in English. Concise, yet comprehensive, this dual-text edition is indispensable for students and scholars of Islamic and Imāmi Shīʿī jurisprudence.

Foundations of Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal Theory is available to purchase here.

ISBN: 978-90-04-31171-8 (Hardback)
ISBN: 978-90-04-31173-2 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-90-04-31177-0 (E-Book)