First published in 1888, this commentary is one of the earliest Arabic commentaries on the Ottoman Code of 1869, better known as the Mecelle, which is understood as the first precolonial experiment in codifying Islamic law. Rustam Bāz was a prior member of the Shūrat al-Dawla al-ʿUthmāniyya. His commentary was published multiple times, relied upon, and was popular among law officials in Ottoman Arab world, as a practical commentary (sharḥ ʿamallī).