Defining Nawādir in the Ḥanafī Madhhab

By Mln. Abrar Habib (Takmīl Graduate, 2019)

Nawādir is a term that one researching in the subject of Ḥanafī Fiqh will frequently come across. Nawādir may also be referred to as “ghayr ẓāhir al-riwāyah.” In this writing, I will introduce and define it.

To understand what the Nawādir are one must know what Ẓāhir al-riwāyah is. Ẓāhir al-riwāyah are the masāʾil related from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf, and Imām Muḥammad via Imām Muḥammad’s mass-communicated transmissions, which are recorded in his five books. For a detailed discussion on what Ẓāhir al-riwāyah consists of, please read here.

Nawādir are the masāʾil related from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf, and Imām Muḥammad that are recorded in other than these five books.[1]

In his risālah regarding the Ṭabaqāt al-Masāʾil al-Ḥanafīyah, Ibn al-Ḥinnāʾī stated that Nawādir are one of the following three:

(1) Imām Muḥammad’s books that are not a part of the Ẓāhir al-riwāyah.

(2) The books of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah’s students other than Imām Muḥammad.

(3) What is related by only one individual.

(1)

The Nawādir books related from Imām Muḥammad are al-Kaysāniyyāt, al-Raqiyyāt, al-Jurjāniyyāt, and al-Hārūniyyāt. These were narrated from Imām Muḥammad via his students, but they are not mass-communicated.[2] Unfortunately, most of them are not extant.[3]

Some of them were named after the student who compiled them. And others were named after the place where Imām Muḥammad issued the rulings.

al-Kaysāniyyāt:

Imām Ṭaḥāwī related al–Kaysāniyyāt from Sulaymān b. Shuʿayb, who related it from his father Shuʿayb, who related it from Imām Muḥammad directly.[4]

Shuʿayb b. Sulaymān al-Kaysānī was Imām Muḥammad’s student. Kaysān was one of Shuʿayb’s ancestors, and that is from where his nisbah originated.[5] According to some, the book was named after Shuʿayb’s nisbah to Kaysān, and because a Kaysānī narrated it.

According to others, Shuʿayb’s son, Sulaymān, narrated al-Kaysāniyyāt.[6] However, this is incorrect because he was born in AH 185.[7] And Imām Muḥammad passed in AH 189.[8] Thus, it would be unlikely that Sulaymān narrated from Imām Muḥammad. He would have narrated from his father, who was Imām Muḥammad’s student.

Others mentioned that it was named al-Kaysāniyyāt because Imām Muḥammad gathered its masāʾil while he was in Kaysān.[9]

It is also said to be known as al-Kayāniyyāt for reason that Imām Muḥammad compiled it for a man named Kaysān.[10] Ṭāshkubrī Zādah considered this to be the correct view.[11]

It is one of the only two Nawādir books that exist today.[12] A small portion of it was printed in India under the title “al-Amālī li Muḥammad.”[13]

Al-Raqqiyyāt:

al–Raqqiyyāt are the masāʾil that Imām Muḥammad gathered while he served as a qāḍī in Raqqah.[14] Muḥammad b. Samāʿah narrated the collection from him. He was with Imām Muḥammad while Imām Muḥammad held that position.[15]

al-Jurjāniyyāt:

al-Jurjāniyyāt are the masāʾil that Imām Muḥammad gathered in Jurjān. Some said that it received its name because that is where he wrote it.[16] It is narrated from Imām Muḥammad via ʿAlī b. Ṣāliḥ al-Jurjānī.[17] Others say that its name comes from ʿAlī b. Ṣāliḥ al-Jurjānī’s nisbah.[18] Perhaps one can reconcile between these views and say that Imām Muḥammad gathered them in Jurjān and that his student ʿAlī al-Jurjānī narrated it from him as well; and that is how it received its name.

al-Hārūniyyāt:

al-Hārūniyyāt are the masāʾil from during Hārūn al-Rashīd’s caliphate.[19] Others said it was compiled by a man named Hārūn.[20]

(2)

The Nawādir that are related from other than Imām Muḥammad are Imām Abū Yūsuf’s al-Amālī and Ḥasan b. Ziyād’s al-Mujarrad.[21]

Imām Abū Yūsuf’s Amālī:

Amālī are compiled when a scholar teaches his students verbatim by summoning to mind points that he remembers while the students record the lesson. Thereafter, the students get together to collectively gather their notes. And this becomes its own book.[22]

Imām Abū Yūsuf’s Amālī were recorded in more than 300 juzʾ.[23] And a juzʾ is equal to thirty ṣafḥah.[24] Unfortunately, this book is no longer extant.[25]

al–Mujarrad:

al–Mujarrad is Imām Ḥasan b. Ziyād’s book. In it he compiled the fiqh of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah.[26] It is not extant.[27]

(3)

As for Ibn al-Ḥinnāʾī’s third category, he mentioned that it is for the narrations related from only one individual regarding specific masāʾil.

It is important to take note of Ibn al-Ḥinnaʾī’s choice of words carefully. For the first two categories, he said, “in the books of,” while for the third, he used the words “the narrations of.” This third category, as understood by Ibn al-Ḥinnaʾī, is for narrations on individual masāʾil (note: not books) even though these narrations might cover multiple chapters of fiqh.

It seems that his understanding of Nawādir narrations, other than those from the first two categories, is that they were scattered in different places and are not actual compilations. Therefore, each narration is related to a specific masʾalah.

Perhaps he did not see any of these books; otherwise, he would have known that some, if not most, are in book form and not just narrations that are scattered about. Most scholars after him just relied on what he said. Perhaps they did not have access to these works either.

One thing that indicates this is that Ibn al-Ḥinnāʾī included the Nawādir of Muʿallā b. Manṣūr in the third category. While most of the Nawādir are not extant, his is the only complete work from them that is. When studying his Nawādir, one will observe that it is a compilation of masāʾil inclusive of most of the chapters of fiqh. And this undermines the definition that he provided.

The other Nawādir are most probably books that discussed masāʾil across all the chapters as well, which is contrary to how Ibn al-Ḥinnāʾī described them.

This third category is better suited for books in which a student relates masāʾil from more than one authority. This definition is different than what was mentioned regarding the first two categories because those works were dedicated to narrations related from one specific authority.

The other Nawādir were related from Ibrāhīm b. Rustam, Ibn Samāʿah, Hishām b. ʿUbayd Allāh al-Rāzī, Abū Sulaymān al-Juzjānī, Muḥammad b. Shujāʿah, Dāwūd b. Rashīd, Bishr b. Walīd, ʿĪsā b. Abān, Faḍl b. Ghanīm, and ʿAlī b. Yazīd al-Ṭabarī.[28]

There is no way to guarantee the nature of the Nawādir narrations from these individuals. Some may have separate books dedicated to the narrations of one authority and others may have compilations in which the narrations are related from multiple individuals. Some may even have both.

As was mentioned, Muʿallā b. Manṣūr is the only complete book from the Nawādir that is found today. We also have a portion of a manuscript from Kaysāniyyāt, and a small bit of al-Mujarrad, which was located in the margins of a manuscript for al-Aṣl.

If one needs to trace a narration that is found in the Nawādir, he may be able to find it in books dedicated to compiling them, such as Ḥākim al-Shahīd’s al–Muntaqā and Abū Layth al-Samarqandī’s ʿUyūn al–Masāʾil.

Regrettably, al-Muntaqā is not extant. Nonetheless, one can find it in Jurjānī’s Khizānt al-Akmal. Jurjānī’s Khizānat al-Akmal is a compilation of some of the Madhhab’s early books. Some non-extant works are included in it. As well, the Nawādir are found scattered throughout the fiqh books, such as Nāṭifī’s Ajnās, Sarakhsī’s Mabsūṭ, Burhān al-Dīn b. Māzah al-Bukhārī’s Muḥīṭ, and several others. These works also mention them.

And Allāh knows best.

 

[1] Ḥāshiyat Ibn ʿĀbidīn, 1:50.

[2] Sharḥ ʿUqūd Rasm al-Muftī, 319.

[3] al-Imām Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan, 148.

[4] Bulūgh al–Amālī, 66.

[5] al-Nahr al-Fāʾiq, 3:27.

[6] al-Madhhab al-Ḥanafī, 1:360.

[7] al-Lubāb fī Tahdhīb al-Ansāb, 3:125.

[8] Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 9:136.

[9] Miftāḥ al-Saʿādah, 2:237.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 3:859.

[13] Khizānat al-Turāth, 61:772.

[14] al-Bināyah, 1:553; Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyyah, 57.

[15] Bulūgh al-Amālī, 64.

[16] Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyyah, 57.

[17] Bulūgh al-Amālī, 66.

[18] Kashf al-Ẓunūn: 1:581.

[19] Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyyah, 57.

[20] Miftāh al-Saʿādah, 2:237.

[21] Nāẓūrat al-Ḥaqq, 174.

[22] al-Ṭabaqāt al-Saniyyah fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyyah, 12.

[23] Bulūgh al–Amālī, 47.

[24] Qīmat al-Zaman, 47.

[25] Ḥusn al-Taqāḍī fī Sīrat al-Imām Abī Yūsuf, 33.

[26] Muqaddimat al-Aṣl, 130.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Taḥqīq Nāẓūrat al-Ḥaqq, 174.