A Treatise on the Lapse of Certain Prayer Times by Imam Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn ʿUmar Shihāb Al-Dīn Al-Khafājī D. 1069 AH.: A Critical Study and Edition 10.35781/1637-000-149-002

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to highlight the value of the manuscript under consideration as an important juristic source within the Hanafi school of law. This is due to the fact that it brings together the opinions of the early and later authoritative scholars of the school, and presents juristic views grounded in transmitted textual evidence as well as rational reasoning based on principles of analogical deduction (qiyās). The manuscript addresses a significant juristic issue whose ruling posed difficulty for jurists and whose understanding was obscure to some of them, namely the ruling on the lapse of certain prayer times in regions of high latitudes, where the indicators of some prayer times become disrupted. This has been achieved through a comprehensive scholarly critical edition of the manuscript, giving due attention to its available copies, textual (vocalization and correction), annotation, and commentary, as well as introducing the author of the manuscript, studying his methodology, and identifying the sources upon which he relied. The research is divided into two main sections. The first section comprises two chapters: the first discusses the author’s life, both personal and scholarly; the second is devoted to the study of the manuscript, including verification of its title and attribution to its author, identification of the sources employed by the author, clarification of his methodological approach, and a description of the manuscript copies. The second section presents a critical scholarly edition of the text, aiming to produce it in the form intended by the author. In the conclusion, the study arrives at a number of findings, the most important of which are: • Regions located at high latitudes are those in which the signs of some prayer times become disrupted. • There is a juristic disagreement within the Hanafi school regarding the ruling on the lapse of certain prayer times in places where the signs of some prayer times are disturbed. Early Hanafi scholars held that these prayers lapse, whereas later scholars and leading authorities of the school maintained that prayer times should be estimated. This latter view represents the position of the majority of jurists among the Malikis, Shafiʿis, and Hanbalis, as well as contemporary jurists, although they differ regarding the method by which such estimation should be carried out. Keywords: lapse of prayer times – al-Shihāb – al-Khafājī.