The Codification of Islamic Juridical Principles (Qawāʿid Fiqhiyya): A Historical Outline

99 The Codification of Islamic Juridical Principles

In addition to the above, since the 7th/13th century, Imāmi Shīʿī's have made relatively important attempts to compile books on Islamic juridical principles, a concise list of which includes the following titles:

A. Al-Ashbāh wa al-naẓāʾīr:

Najīb al-Dīn Yaḥyā b. Sa'īd al-Ḥillī, otherwise known as Ibn Sa'īd (601-698/1204-1298) composed a most valuable and useful work entitled Nuzhat al-Nāẓir fī al-Jamʿ Bayn al-Ashbāh wa al-Nazāʾir. By "al-ashbah wa al-naẓā'ir" the author means that group of cases pertaining to various abwāb of fiqh which can be brought under a single heading due to the similarities between them. This type of classification is used in other disciplines, and in literature, for example, al-Suyūṭī's work on naḥw is also entitled Al-Ashbāh wa al-Naẓāʾir.

The present stats of arts leading to the compilation of this article indicates, though perhaps only tentatively, that Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn was the first to compile such a work in the history of Islamic law, for as noted earlier the oldest extant work entitled al-Ashbāh wa al-Naẓāʾir was authored by Ibn Wakil al-Shāfiʿī (655-716/1257-1316).

Najīb al-Dīn's valuable treatise is written in a fluent and eloquent style free of obscurity and complexities; it is neither excessively detailed nor too concise. The treatise deals with all the abwāb of fiqh, from ṭahārah to diyāt. Though brief on some subjects, the author fully substantiates each case, discusses the supporting or dissenting opinions of different jurists, giving his own judgment in each case. For this, Najīb al-Dīn mostly refers to the riwāyahs of Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh and Al-Tahdhīb, giving greater weight to the views of the authors of these works than to that of other jurists.

Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn is said to have been a pious and devout man and, the most celebrated scholar of his time, and master of many arts including literature, law, jurisprudence, and ḥadīth, of which he was a ḥāfiẓ. He was