"It is the most comprehensive and useful abridgement to be found in M¿lik¿ fiqh." (Far¿d al-An¿¿r¿ Mafh¿m al-'¿limiyyah)
The works of Ibn Juzayy partake of a particular miraculous quality of the last of the Messengers of Allah, may Allah bless him and them and grant them peace: they unite concision and comprehensiveness.
Comprehensively, the author presents both the range of judgments within the school of the People of Mad¿nah as well as the range of judgments among the madhhabs at large, but with concision in a single modest Arabic volume. He covers not only 'aq¿dah and 'ib¿d¿t but also mu'¿mal¿t, other matters of täawwuf, and yet others pertaining to history, i.e. the s¿rah of the Messenger ¿, the khulaf¿' and Andalus.
His main concern is to say with clarity what the d¿n IS, and then to note the legitimate differences, and sometimes the illegitimate ones in order to dismiss them. To show the spectrum of valid differences is vitally important in the age of literalism that says "tell me the ¿ä¿¿ hadith so that I can act on it" or in its M¿lik¿ version, "tell me the well-known judgment (mashh¿r)." The author carefully lets the reader know the well-known judgments (mashh¿r) but sets them within the spectrum of valid judgments from the luminaries among M¿lik's students, such as Ibn al-Q¿sim, Ashhab, A¿bagh, Ibn Wahb and Ibn al-M¿jish¿n et al, who, it is well to remember, may simply be acting on what they learnt from M¿lik himself.
Following Ibn Juzayy's own division of his work into two parts, we here publish Volume 1 containing the chapters on 'aq¿dah and 'ib¿d¿t, reserving mu'¿mal¿t for Volume 2.
Ibn Juzayy was Abu-l-Q¿sim Müammad ibn A¿mad ibn Müammad ibn 'Abdull¿h ibn Yäy¿ ibn 'Abd ar-Räm¿n ibn Y¿suf ibn Sa'¿d ibn Juzayy al-Kalb¿. He was born on the 19th Rab¿' al-Awwal in 693 AH/1294 CE. He mastered the essential sciences of the d¿n, and wrote significant works on tafs¿r, hadith, 'aq¿dah, täawwuf, qir¿'¿t (recitations and rescensions of the Qur'¿n) and ü¿l al-fiqh. He died as a shah¿d in the Battle of Tareef on Monday 7th Jum¿da-l-¿l¿ 741 AH/30th October 1340 CE.
Dr. Asadullah Yate (Cantab.) has translated works from Arabic, Persian, German and French, and, in collaboration with others, from Turkish. He teaches Arabic and Fiqh at the Weimar Institute, and is Imam al-Khateeb at the mosque of Stralsund, Germany.
