101 The Codification of Islamic Juridical Principles

other subjects mention is made of the legal principles which a mujtahid needs to know. At any rate, the first book which is specifically entitled "qawāʿid" and devoted mainly to this subject is Al-Qawāʿid wa al-Fawāʾid. Its celebrated author who is well aware of its unique position in the Imāmiyyah school, praises the work in the following terms in an ijāzah which he wrote for Ibn al-Khāzin:

"The Kitāb al-Qawāʿid wa al-fawāʾid which I have compiled, is a concise work which consists of general rules in uṣūl and fiqh and it is from these principles that laws (aḥkām al-Sharʿiyyah) are deduced andandand no one else among the Imāmiyyah has compiled such a book."

It must be pointed out that in addition to juridical principles, the book also deals with the principles of jurisprudence as well as literature. On the whole it treats of about 303 principles (qawāʿid) and a hundred other notes and points (fawāʾid and tanbīhāt).

The first lithograph edition of this work was published by Mullā ʿAlī Akbar Kirmānī in Tehran in 1270-1852. It was later printed with some glosses by Shaykh Bahāʾī, commentary by al-Ḥarfūshī and notes by Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAṭṭār Lawāsānī in 1308 S.H.-1929, followed by a third and undated edition. Finally, Dr. Sayyid ʿAbd al-Hādī Ḥakīm prepared a fourth critical edition, published in Najaf in 1400-1980, reprinted by Maktabah Mufīd.

Due to its arrangement and distinct style, the Qawāʿid of the Shāhid al-Awwal soon attracted the attention of learned circles among Imāmiyyah Shīʿah. Included in the curricula of the centers of learning, it was recommended to the students and scholars who hoped to attain the degree of ijtihād. Numerous notes and glosses, as well as, commentaries were written on it by celebrated scholars and jurists, a few of which include the following titles:

1- Ḥāshiyah by Abū al-Qāsim al-Faqʿānī al-ʿĀmilī (d. 850-1466).