| The Heritage Society Presents... | Back to Heritage F.I.E.L.D - First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database |
In the preface to his Compendium of Fatimid Law (Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, 1969, p. x), Professor Fyzee expresses the hope that some younger scholar would take up the study and publication of Qadi al-Nu man's Ikhtilaf Usul al-Madhahib. This wish has now been fulfilled in the book by Dr. Lokhandwalla. Qadi al-Nu Man was an outstanding Fatimid jurist and considered the greatest authority on law by the Musta'lian Ismailis. He entered the service of the first Fatimid caliph al-Madhi around 313/925. During the reign of the third and fourth Fatimid caliphs al-Nu'man held first the judgeship of Tripoli and later that of the Fatimid capital Mansuriya. When the Fatimids conquered Egypt and the seat of government was transferred to Cairo, Qad al-Nu'man was charged with mazalim proceedings by the fourth caliph al-Mu'izz. According to Ismaili sources he died in 363/974. A very prolific writer, he was the author of about forty-six books. Dr. Lokhandwalla, in the introduction to his edition of the Ikhtilaf, after giving a brief sketch of al-Nu'man's life and activities, catalogues al-Nu'man's works on law and allied topics and his polemical works in the field of law, describing each one briefly. Among al-Nu'man's polemical works, the Ikhtilaf is outstanding. The existing copies of this book were actually written by al-Nu'man's grandson 'Abd al'Aziz b. Muhammad b. al-Nu'man on the authority of his father who in turn related the work on the authority of his father the Qadi al- Nu'man. All three men were ranking jurists in the Fatimid empire. According to the editor, the evidence that the Ikhtilaf was composed after 343/954 is that al-Nu'man in that work reproduces the decree of the caliph al-Mu'izz appointing him as mazalim judge. That decree was issued on the 28th Rabi' al-Awwa; 343/30 September 954.
The Ikhtilaf was thus composed nearly 150 years after al-Shafi'i had written his famous Risalawhich dealt for the first time systematically with the usul al-fiqh, the roots or sources of Islamic law. The importance of the Ikhtilaf lies in the fact that it gives us a picture of the stage of development of the sources of Islamic law around the middle of the fourth century of the Hijra. As the editor points out, relatively little space is devoted to Ismaili beliefs, but the Sunni theories on the sources of Islamic law are discussed and refuted in detail.
The Ismailis recognized only three fundamental sources of law: the Qu'ran, the sunna of the Prophet, and the creeds of the imams. The other Sunni sources, particularly ijma' and qiyas were rejected. The imam was to the Ismailis an infallible guide and his powers were never circumscribed, at least in theory. In practice, of course, the political situation set certain limits to his power. The editor observes that following and obeying the imams implicitly was obviously no different from the taqlid of the orthodox schools. Al Nu'man rejects this view. He apparently was aware that the Ismailis could be accused of having their own taqlid, but he argued that whatever came from the imams remained within the framework of the Qu'ran and the sunna, whereas the Sunnis followed their predecessors according to their own predilections. A number of important questions here touched upon are discussed by the editor in considerable detail in his introduction, giving also some significant excerpts from the Ikhtilaf in English translation The content of the Ikhtilaf is surveyed in the introduction rather briefly, more space is devoted to the discussion of specific points. However, Professor Fyzee has given a concise outline of the content of the Ikhtilaf in his "Shi'i Legal Theories" (in Majid Khadduri and Herbert J. Liebesny, Law in the Middle East, Vol. 1, Washington, D.C.: The Middle East Institute, 1955 pp. 124-127). The editor's introduction is followed by a bibliography of Ismaili works used or referred to and by an index. There is no bibliography of secondary works.
The text of the Ikhtilaf given here is based on a manuscript in the editor's possession. As he points out, Ismaili manuscripts are hard to come by. However, the editor has had an opportunity to compare his manuscript with two others, one which an eminent Ismaili scholar lent him for a few hours, the other owned by Professor Fyzee. Throughout the text variant readings from Professor Fyzee's manuscript are given in footnotes. The text is followed by five indices in Arabic dealing with verses of the Qur'an and hadiths cited in the Ikhtilaf, with names of Islamic scholars, tribes and places, and some important books mentioned in the text.
Dr. Lokhandwalla's edition of al-Nu'man's Ikhtilaf thus makes available to the scholarly world an extremely important work on sources on Islamic law which gives us an insight into the legal theories that existed in the middle of the fourth century of the Hijra. Because of al-Nu'man's preoccupation with the refutation of Sunni legal theories, this is much more than a work devoted to the exposition of Ismaili beliefs. The introduction is very useful and presents a cogent picture of the work of al-Nu'ma, of the pertinent Ismaili legal theories, and of the arguments against the Sunnis presented in the Ikhtilaf.
Herbert J. Liebesny
National Law Center The George Washington University Washington, D.C.