شرح مجمع البحرين لابن ملك

Sharh Majma' al-Bahrayn li-Ibn Malak

Majma al-Bahrayn is amongst the mutun mu’tabarah in the Hanafi Madhab, however it isn’t normally taught or even used much due to the complex manner in which the author incorporated khilaf into the text.
While the author himself authored a detailed commentary that has been printed in 10 volumes, the most popular commentary is that of Ibn Malak.

Amongst its salient characteristics are:
- To the point, without being too detailed or too brief.
- Easy, flowing ibarah.
- Clearly explaining every line of the text.
- Pointing out exactly what khilaf is being indicated towards.
- Frequently presenting the surat of the mas’alah
- Pointing out the rajih view, from reliable sources.
- Covering the adillah of both sides.
- Incorporating the summary of the author’s commentary.

This resulted in Ibn Malak’s sharh being one of the important masadir in every major Hanafi Fiqh work. It is a must for every serious Mufti and Dar al-Ifta.

This edition however came with a bonus, that far exceeded all expectations.
It is the hashiyah of Allamah Qasim ibn Qutlubugha on Ibn Malak’s sharh. While we have heard of it and I have manuscripts of it, I have never used it and assumed it would be a normal fiqh-focused sharh, explaining difficult ibarat and masail.

With regard to fiqh, it is amazing. Allamah Qasim really shows his tahqiqi side in this work, filling it is important quyud, tashih, objections, pointing out the correct explanations etc. This alone is enough to prove it worth.

But the part that blew me away was the Hadithi/Fiqh al-Khilaf aspect. In Kitab at-Taharah, his hashiyah is much longer than Ibn Malak’s sharh, as he goes deep into adillah. He brings the various objections raised by the Shafi’i ulama and muhaddithin – especially Allamah Rafi’i- on our adillah, then proceeds to answer each of them. It is filled with hadith and turuq, discussions on ilal, rijal etc, which make it important to those teaching ahadith of ahkam.

Unfortunately, the hashiyah only covers until the end of Taharah, then starts from Kitab al-Wakalah until the end of the book. The section from Wakalah onwards is filled with fiqhi fawaid, not much hadithi ones.

Both the sharh and hashiyah have been printed for the first time, edited using multiple manuscripts.

📘 High-quality edition in 5 thick volumes.