Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi al-Hanbali (541 - 620 AH)

By Musa Furber

Muwaffaq Al-Din Abu Muhammad `Abd Allah bin Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Qudamah Al-Maqdisi Al-Hanbali, a faqih and Sheikh Al-Islam. Born in 541 AH during the month of Sha`ban, near Nablus in the vicinity of Quds. During that time, the Crusaders had taken control of Quds so Ibn Qudamah's family emigrated to Damascus, where they originally settled near Bab Al-Sharqi (the eastern gate of the city) and after two years moved to Qasyoun mountain in an area now known as Muhya Din, but originally name Salihiya after the salihin of Bani Qudamah that lived there. During that time Al-Muwaffiq had been memorizing Qur'an, learning basic knowledge from his father, and learning from the mashayikh of Damascus.

He then went to Baghdad where he read Mukhtasr Al-Khiraqi with Sheikh `Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jaylani (Allah be well pleased with him); it was a book he had already memorized in Damascus, and this was an intensive and precise reading. Sheikh `Abd Al-Qadir then passed away, so Al-Muwaffaq took from a few others sheikhs and then returned to Damascus. There he began to teach and author works in various disciplines.

He passed away on `Eid Al-Fitr 620 AH, and was buried above the Jami`a Al-Hanabilah in Salihiya. May Allah have mercy upon him.

The great Hanbali scholar Imam Muwaffiq Al-Din Ibn Qudammah Al-Maqdisi developed a program taking students from the very beginning of their studies to the very end: from having no specialized knowledge in the fiqh to being a mujtahid. His program consisted of a series of books, moving the student toward the grand goal in stages.

The first book is Al-`Umdah, a basic manual of fiqh for beginners. It covers the basic rulings that every Hanbali needs. The book gave only the predominant opinion for each position. While Al-Muwaffiq did not concentrate on evidence, he did tend to begin each section with a hadith that the student can use for figuring out many of the unmentioned branch issues.

The second book is Al-Muqni`, which added to the above by mentioning different opinions for a given issue without telling the student which is the predominant opinion, and by adding some additional branch issues.

The third book is Al-Kafi, which introduces evidence for the positions in the mathab.

The fourth book is Raudhat Al-Nathir, a book in usul al-fiqh. It is a condensed version of Imam Al-Ghazali’s Al-Mustasfa, but instead of championing the Shafi`i usul it champions the Hanbali.

The fifth and final book is Al-Mughni, which builds on the previous works by adding opinions from the other mathabs from the Companions and early Imams (Allah be well pleased with them) whether still followed or extinct, the opinions within the mathab with a particular emphasis on what is transmitted from the Imam, the evidence for all of these various positions, and then a defense of the predominant position in Ibn Qudammah’s opinion. The book is also full of minute branch issues.

So, this was the program that Al-Muwaffiq set down, and these are some of the many books he authored. In today’s circumstances it is very easy to scoff at his a program and consider it far fetched, but it did indeed produce a good number of Hanbali mujtahids, and his final book Al-Mughni has been praised by Hanbalis and non-Hanbalis alike; it an Imam Al-Nawawi’s Al-Majmu`a are two of the more essential books of fiqh muqarin. The Shafi`i mujtahid imam Al-`Izz bin `Abd Al-Salam held back from giving verdicts until obtaining a copy of Al-Mughni.