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Ṣubḥ al-`a’shā fī sinā’at al-inshā is a late medieval chancery educational book, intending to educate aspiring Mamlūk officials. The text contains several examples of correspondences and contracts that Qalqashandī finds exemplary.  This particular text renders a Sultanic decree of appointment to a Ḥanbalī judge, and outlines various points that the Sultan expects the judge to adjudicate according to his school’s rulings.

This decree established by the Abbasid caliph, al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-Allāh (r. 974-991) establishes the role of the Ṣāḥib al-Maẓālim as different from that of the judge. The Ṣāḥib, or officer, is tasked with investigating complaints of injustice in situations where the executive power must intervene.  In this capacity he can search “for types of evidence that are obscure and concealed.” In contrast, the judge must rely only on “solid and plain evidence.”

Suyūṭī’s (d. 911/1505) al-Ashbāh wa-l-Naẓāʾir is a treatise collecting Shāfiʿī legal canons. It examines the similarities and differences between legal and interpretive outcomes in Islamic law in ways that show how and why one judgment or outcome is distinguished from another, and in the process highlights the substantive and interpretive legal canons that guide those legal outcomes. 

For more, view the full print edition and see The Legal Thought of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti: Authority and Legacy (Oxford, 2017) by Rebecca Hernandez.

This excerpt is from Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-ʿAlāʾī's (d. 761/1359) al-Majmūʿ al-Mudhhab fī Qawāʿid al-Madhhab, which is a two-volume collection of substantive legal canons and interpretive legal canons, and the third-oldest known Shāfiʿī canons collection from the Mamlūk era. Substantive legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) are short formulas expressing fundamental principles and doctrines of Islamic law, while interpretive legal canons (qawāʿid uṣūliyya) are principles for interpreting textual sources. This excerpt provides the first few pages excerpted from the author's Introduction. 

For more, view the full print edition and read the commentary by Mariam Sheibani on the Islamic Law Blog.