Mukhtasar Al-Quduri

Perhaps Imam al Quduri's most famous works, Al Mukhtasar is also known as al Kitab. The number of issues it addresses is 12,500, spanning the entire spectrum of Fiqh, for the book covers not only matters of worship, but also business transactions, personal relations and penal and judicial matters. Abu Ali al-Shashi said about the book, "Whoever memorises this book, is the best accomplished of our associates in memorisation and whoever understands it, is best accomplished of our associates in understanding."

As is common with fiqh summary texts, the book generally does not mae a point of providing evidences and derivations of the regulations. The bases and reasoning behind the verdicts presented can be pursued in more advanced books of madhab, and also require some knowledge of usul-al-fiqh.

This is a simple explanatory English translation of Mukhtasar al-Quduri

About The Author

Al-Imām al-ʿAllāmah Abu ‘l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Baghdādi al-Qudūri.

Al-Imām al-ʿAllāmah Abu ‘l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Baghdādi al-Qudūri. [He is more commonly known by his nisbah (surname), as Imam al-Qudūri.] Some say that his nisbah is ascribed to one of the outlying towns of Baghdad called Qudūrah. Others say that it is ascribed to his family profession, the selling of pots (which in Arabic are translated as qudūr).

He was born – may Allah Most High have mercy on him – in the year 362 A.H. He studied Fiqh from Abu ʿAbdillāh al-Faqīh Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Jurjāni. Among the jurists that learned Fiqh at his hands was Abu Naṣr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Aqṭaʿ. The chief justice (qāḍī al-quḍāt) Abu ʿAbdillāh al-Dāmaghāni narrates ḥadīth from him, and so does al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādi. Imam al-Qudūri – may Allah Most High have mercy on him – distinguished himself in Fiqh due to his intelligence. He went on to become the leader of the Ḥanafi scholars in Iraq, and he rose amongst them in status and fame. He was well-spoken in his views, of a bold tongue and constant in reciting the Quran.

1. Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūri: This book is known within the Madhhab as “al-Kitāb.” It is a highly-esteemed matn that is in common use among the imāms and the leaders of the Madhhab. Its fame needs no mentioning. The author of Miṣbāḥu Anwār al-Adʿiyah writes: “The Ḥanafis would seek barakah by reading Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūri during times of epidemic, for it is a blessed book. Whoever memorizes it will be safe from poverty to the extent that it is said: whoever studies it under a righteous teacher, and supplicates upon its completion that he be showered with blessings, then he will become the owner of the number of dirhams equal to the number of legal cases (masā’il) the book covers – and according to the commentator of al-Majmaʿ, the book covers 12,000 legal cases. Numerous commentaries have been written on the book, among them, being al-Jawharah al-Nayyirah of al-Ḥaddādi and Zād al-Fuqahā’ of al-Isbaḥāni.
2. Al-Tajrīd: This book appears in seven volumes. It discusses the points of difference between our scholars and al-Shāfiʿī – may Allah Most High have mercy on him. He began writing it in the year 405 A.H.
3. Al-Taqrīb: This book covers the points of difference between Abu Ḥanīfah and his students – may Allah Most High have mercy on them all – without including proofs. Then he authored a sequel, al-Taqrīb al-Thānī, in which he mentions the proofs.
4. Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al–Karkhi, and many publications besides.

The Imam passed away – may Allah Most High have mercy on him – on Monday, the fifteenth of Rajab, year 428 A.H. He was buried soon after in his home on Abī Khalaf Lane. He was later moved to a cemetery on al-Manṣūr Street, and there he was laid to rest beside the Ḥanafi jurist Abu Bakr al-Khawārizmi.

Taken from the preface of: Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Ghunaymi al-Maydāni, Shaykh Bashhār Bakrī ʿArrābī (taḥqīq and takhrīj), Shaykh ʿUmar al-Miṣri (foreword and verification), al-Lubāb fī Sharḥ al-Kitāb. Al-Maktabah al-ʿUmarīyyah: Damascus.

About The Translator

Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias

Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias was born in Muharram 1375 (September 1955) in Estcourt, Kwa-Zulu Natal. During his youth, Allah inspired him with a yearning for a thorough Deeni education. After fulfilling his parents’ wishes of obtaining a secular education, Mufti Elias left for Deoband, India in 1977.

Here he obtained the following Deeni qualifications:

• Fazil Alim Certificate from Darul Uloom Deoband, India, in 1983.
• A specialized course on the Tafseer (Commentary) of the Noble Quraan under Moulana Ghulamullaah Khan in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 1983.
• Mufti Certificate from Darul Uloom Deoband, India, in 1984.
• (A specialized course in Islaamic Jurisprudence)
• During his student years, Mufti Elias began writing, translating, and simplifying Islamic literature. After completing his studies, Mufti Saahib returned to South Africa, to impart the knowledge he had gained.

Seeing his works further translated into languages that include (but are not limited to) Afrikaans, Zulu, Sotho, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Danish, and Braille.

Mufti Elias was also a senior member of many Islaamic organisations, for as long as those organisations’ focus was the upliftment of Deen.

Mufti Elias was a people’s Mufti, and his main concern was making Deen easy for all, and accessible to all. Mufti Elias always availed himself to answer questions and was easy-going and approachable.

Mufti Elias’s contributions to spreading Deen in the western world are innumerable and immeasurable. May Allaah accept his works, make it a means of guidance, and allow it to flourish until the end of time.

On the 9th Shabaan 1439 (25th April 2018), Mufti Elias completed his journey of this world, and passed on to the next.

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