Al-Hidayah fi Sharh Bidayat al-Mubtadi (d. 593 AH/1197 CE) (Arabic:الهداية في شرح بداية المبتدي,al-Hidāyah fī Sharḥ Bidāyat al-Mubtadī), commonly referred to asal-Hidayah (lit. "the guidance", also spelledHedaya[1]), is a 12th-century legal manual byBurhan al-Din al-Marghinani, which is considered to be one of the most influential compendium ofHanafi jurisprudence (fiqh).[2][3] It has been subject of numerous commentaries.[2]
The author, Shaykh al-Islam Burhan al-Din al-Farghani al-Marghinani (d.593AH/1197CE), was considered to be one of the most esteemed jurists of the Hanafite school.[4] Al-Hidayah is a concise commentary on al-Marghinani's own compendiumal-Bidayat al-mubtadi, which was in turn based onMukhtasar by al-Quduri andal-Shaybani'sal-Jami‘ al-saghir.[5][6] The significance of al-Hidayah in the Hanafite school lay not in its intrinsic virtues, but in its role as an authoritative and convenient basis for further commentaries.[4] Thus, it constituted not a statement of the law in itself, but rather an interpretative framework for elaboration of jurisprudence in different times and places.[4]
During the era ofBritish colonial rule in South Asia, al-Hidayah alongsideFatawa-i-Alamgiri played a central role in the development of the amalgam of Islamic and British law known asAnglo-Muhammadan law[4] which continues to be the basis of Islamicpersonal laws inIndia,Pakistan &Bangladesh. Since the Hanafite school was predominant on the Indian sub-continent, the book was influential there as a substrate for commentaries, and — supplemented by professorial exposition — as a textbook for law colleges (madrasas).[4][7] In the late 18th century,William Jones commissioned its translation into Persian, and this version was used byCharles Hamilton to produce an English translation.[4] The translation enabled British colonial judges to adjudicate in the name ofsharia, which amounted to an unprecedented codification of Hanafi law, severed from its Arabic-language interpretative tradition.[4] This served to accomplish two goals, which had been long pursued by the British in India: firstly, it limited the judicial discretion of theqadis and the influence ofmuftis in the sharia system, reducing their earlier role as "middlemen" between the Islamic legal tradition and the colonial administration; and, secondly, it replaced the interpretative mechanisms offiqh by those ofEnglish common law.[4]
Al-Hidaya was translated into Persian in 1776 by a group of Muslim scholars inBengal, India. The translation was commissioned by Charles Hamilton, which he used to translate it later into English. The Persian translation was re-published twice in India, once inCalcutta and later in 1874 inLucknow.
Charles Hamilton's 1791 translation into English, which was made from a Persian translation rather than from the original Arabic text.[4]
A new English translation of the original Arabic text byDr Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, translated from its original Arabic text with introduction, commentary and notes was published in 2006, focusing on the ritual and family law sections which amounted to about 40% of the original work.[8] A further two volumes were published by the same translator in 2016 and 2023 respectively, translating the rest of the Arabic text that was excluded in the first volume.[9][10]
1896 - Translation and commentary by Maulana Sayyid Amir Ali, entitledAinul-Hidayah and published in Lucknow.[11] An edited and expanded edition was produced by Maulana Anwarul-Haq Qasmi, published in 2003 asAinul-Hidayah Jadid.[12]
1984 - Translation and commentary by Maulana Jamil Ahmad Qasmi Sakrodhawi, entitledAshraful-Hidayah.[13]
2004 - Translation and commentary by Maulana Abdul-Halim Qasmi Bastawi, entitledAhsanul-Hidayah.[14]
^Dr Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee (trans.)Al-Hidayah: A classical manual of Hanafi Law Laws (Bristol) 2006
^abcdefghiWael B. Hallaq (2009).Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations. Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition). pp. 374–376.
^W. Heffening. Encyclopedia of Islam, Brill, 2nd ed. "al-Marghinani", vol. 6, p. 558.
^Knut S. Vikør:Between God and the Sultan': A History of Islamic Law. 2005, p.162, note.45
^Robert W. Hefner; Muhammad Qasim Zaman:Schooling Islam, 2007, S.63 f.: „has served for centuries […] the cornerstone of legal studies in South Asian madrasas“.
^Outpost Commentary: Burhan al-Din al-Farghani Al-Marghinani, Dr Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Al-Hiddayah, The Guidance (Bristol: Amal Press, 2006)
