Muslim World Book Review, volume 33, issue 3, Spring 2013, pp.

78-79

Bookreview:

TheMukhtasaralQuduri:AManualofIslamicLawAccordingtotheHanafiSchool
TranslatedfromtheArabicwithIntroductionandnotesbyTahirMahmoodKiani, (TahaPublishersLTD.2010).Pages761.ISBN9781897940709 ReviewedbyDrMansurAli CardiffUniversity Thisisthetranslationofsmallopuscule,alMukhtasar,writtenbytheheadoftheBaghdadiHanafi guildAbulHusaynalQuduri(d.428/1037);andisoneofthefirstworksoftheMukhtasargenre onlytobeprecededbyalTahawi(d.321/933).BooksintheMukhtasargenrewereusedtoquickly trainlawyersinthesacredlawaswellasformemorizationforreferencepurposes.TheMukhatsarof alQudurigainedmuchpopularityintheHanafiSchoolofthoughtduetothepositionitsauthorheld intheguildaswellasthesuperiorarrangementofitscontents,whichhithertowasmissingfrom legaltextbooks.ItwasincorporatedintotheDarseNizamisyllabustaughtinthereligiousseminaries oftheAsiansubcontinentaswellastheiraffiliateseminariesintheWesternworldasanelementary textofIslamicsacredlaw. WiththesteadygrowthofIslaminthepublicspherecoupledwiththedemandsforaccessibilityof classicalIslamicliterature,translationofclassicaltextshasfoundanicheinthebookmarket.The translationunderreviewisanotherexampleofthesteadygrowthoftranslationsofelementary pedagogicaltexts. Thetranslation,mostly,isclearandpreciseishonesttotheArabic.Itboastsmanybenefitstoits merit.FirstofalltheinterlinearArabictextwiththeEnglishtranslationmakesiteasyfornovicesto compareandcontrastthetwolanguages.WhereclassicalArabicrarelyemployspunctuations,the translatorbreaksdownlargepassagesintobulletpointswithoutcompromisingtheArabic.Healso usessubheadingstogroupthemestogetherwhicharemissingintheArabic.Thisthenaddsanother layerofcontributiontoalQudurisalreadysuperiorarrangement.Thetranslatorusessquare parenthesistobringouttheellipsesinthe,otherwisesomewhatobscure,Arabictext.Excessiveuse offootnoteshasbeenusedtoclarifyandelaborateissues.Thesetakeonmanyforms,from explainingliteraryconventions(ft.8)tosimpleclarification(ft.118)tomakingthebookrelevantfor themoderncontextsuchashisdiscussiononZakatonsilver(ft.169),medicine(ft.216)andmoney inthemoderncontext(ft.295). Thetranslationhasanexhaustivecontentpagewithoutwhichitwouldhavebeendifficultto manoeuvrearoundthe761pages.Italsohasendorsementsfromtheauthorsteachersaswellas fromShaykhMuhammadalNinowi,whoinveryeloquentArabicsituatestheauthorandthebookin thewidercontextofthedevelopmentofIslamicSacredlaw.Thetranslatoralsohasasmallsection onjurisprudence(usulalfiqh)aswellashismethodologyintranslatingthistext.Finally,hehas appendedanexhaustiveglossaryandausefultableontheZakatoflivestockwhichcanbequite mindnumbingtoreadintheArabic.

Thisisaverygoodandusefultranslation;howeverforthisreviewerthetranslationfollowsthe ArabicgrammartoocloselywhichattimesmakestheEnglisharchaic.Amoreidiomatictranslation wouldhavereadbetteralthoughthetranslatoracknowledgestheselimitationsintheintroduction. ThistranslationisrecommendedtoallthosewhoarethinkingofstudyingIslamiclawandisa welcomeaddendumtothelibraryoftranslatedpedagogicaltexts.