Methodological Features Of Al-Ṣadr Al-Shahīd’s Legal Reasoning: Principles Of Uṣūl Al-Fiqh And

Abstract

The article analyses the legal methodology of Ḥusām al-Dīn ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ṣadr al-Shahīd al-Bukhārī (483–536/1090–1141), a leading Ḥanafī jurist of Bukhara, on the basis of his commentaries on Adab al-qāḍī and al-Jāmiʿ al- ṣaghīr, his fatwa collections and the reception of his opinions in later Ḥanafī literature. The study first situates al-Ṣadr al-Shahīd within the “method of the jurists” (ṭarīqat al-fuqahāʾ), the Ḥanafī approach to legal theory that derives general rules from the recorded rulings of the school’s founders. It then identifies the principal features of his reasoning: consistent causal justification (taʿlīl) of rulings, precise determination of the point of disagreement (taḥrīr maḥall al-nizāʿ), elimination of confusion between similar cases through the science of distinctions (furūq), the use of legal maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) such as “means take the ruling of ends” and the blocking of means (sadd al-dharāʾiʿ), the extension of cases through derivation, and the weighing of opinions (tarjīḥ). In the field of substantive law the article describes further characteristics of his method, including comparative presentation of Ḥanafī and Shāfiʿī arguments, correction of transmitted reports, caution in issuing categorical judgements, preference for acts of public benefit and attention to the priorities of legal obligations (fiqh al- awlawiyyāt). The article concludes that al-Ṣadr al-Shahīd’s method combines fidelity to the school with sensitivity to social needs, which explains the lasting authority of his preferred opinions in the Ḥanafī tradition.