Sharh al-Sirajiyah [Commentary on the Sirajite book of inheritance laws].
8vo (162 x 236 mm). 91 ff. Arabic manuscript on paper. Black script with important words and phrases struck through or written in red. With a few compact charts and extensive marginal notes in both early and later hands. Contemporary red morocco with fore-edge flap, ruled in blind and stamped with medallions.
€ 3.500,00
A handy commentary on the principal work of Hanafi inheritance law, the oldest of the four main schools of Sunni Muslim legal theory. Al-Sirajiyah (sometimes anglicized as the "Sirajite book"), the text upon which this commentary is focused, has enjoyed centuries of continuous influence on the interpretation of Muslim inheritance law. In British India it was even translated into English for the use of law courts.
The author of the present commentary, Ali ibn Mohammed al-Jurjani (1339-1414), was a Persian scholar and encyclopedist largely active in Shiraz, which he only fled once when the city was sacked by Tamerlane. He was engaged with the literature of his time, having produced a wide range of commentaries on law, science, and theology. This is a tidy example, copied in Ottoman Turkey by the scribe al-Sayyid Hassan bin Ismail Munshi Zade.
Gentle exterior wear, a few hints of soiling, otherwise in good condition.