Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl Ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl

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

Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl is a foundational text in the development of Imāmī Shīʿī legal theory and its influence extends from its composition in the eighth/fourteenth century down to the present day. 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 leading scholar, jurist, and theologian of the Imāmī Shīʿī School of Ḥillah, and he earned the unique title of al-ʿAllāmah (‘Doctor Maximus’) in recognition of his peerless command of and contribution to the Islamic sciences. Al-Ḥillī was born into a distinguished scholarly family in the Iraqi town of al-Ḥillah, near Baghdad – his father Sadīd al-Dīn Yūsuf b. ʿAlī b. al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī 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), were both formidable intellects – and, by his own account, went on to study at Maragha with the renowned astronomer, architect, and theologian Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274). al-ʿAllāmah al-Ḥillī rose to prominence at the court of the Mongol ruler Uljaytū Khān (r. 704–716/1304–1316) and joined the monarch’s ‘travelling school’ (al-madrasah al-sayyārah), a group of highly respected scholars who accompanied and advised the Khān on religious and intellectual issues. The author of more than 120 works covering many fields including theology (kalām), philosophy, logic, law, ḥadīth, and Qurʾānic exegesis (tafsīr), al-ʿAllāmah was a key figure in the School of Ḥillah, applying mathematical principles to matters such as the division of inheritance and the calculation of prayer times and introducing into Shīʿī law a system for the classification of the reliability of narrated traditions.

In Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl, the first volume in the Maktabah al-Turāth al-Shīʿī Series, which is dedicated to producing Arabic critical editions, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, presents the first authoritative scholarly edition of al-Ḥillī’s foundational work. This text is based upon six early manuscripts, four of which date from al-Hillī’s lifetime, held at the libraries of Marʿashī in Qum, Iraq; Astānah-yi Quds-i Raḍawī in Mashhad, Iran; the British Library in London; and the Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ Foundation in Najaf, Iraq. Among these is an exceptionally difficult manuscript lacking pointing and diacritics (tanqīṭ), which therefore required rigorous study by Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi in order to clarify and bring to the fore al-Hillī’s language, argument, and distinctive contribution to Shia legal thought. With a learned and elegant opening (khuṭbat al-kitāb) which interweaves the names of important texts of jurisprudence in the classical Arabic style, along with a comprehensive scholarly introduction, bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, an appendix with high-definition facsimile images of the original manuscripts, and a critical apparatus of more than 350 footnotes and annotations detailing variant readings of the six manuscripts, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi’s edition of Mabādiʾ al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl demonstrates a mastery of classical Arabic philology, palaeography, manuscript studies, grammar, and syntax. This edition also includes a foreword by Ayatollah al-Sayyid Munīr al-Sayyid ʿAdnān al-Qaṭīfī, the compiler and editor of the first volume of Ayatollah al-Sayyid ʿAlī al-Ḥusaynī al-Sīstānī’s important lectures and discussions on Islamic jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh), entitled al-Rāfid fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh.

Mabādiʾ al-wuṣūl ilā ʿilm al-uṣūl is available to purchase, please email the institute to order your copy.

ISBN: 978-0-9935884-2-6 (Hardback)