منهج الحافظ الغماري في مسالك الدلالة على الرسالة واستخراج القواعد الأصولية والفقهية منه [The approach of Al-Hafiz Al-Ghamari in Masalik Al-Dalalah from Al-Risalah and the extraction of fundamental and jurisprudential rules from it]

Abstract

This study aims to examine the extent to which the Maliki school succeeds in grounding its legal rulings upon sound foundational principles, particularly given that many Maliki books omit detailed textual evidence. The research is based on Maslik al-Dilala ʿalā al-Risāla of Ibn Abī Zayd, authored by the traditionalist Aḥmad al-Ghumārī (d. 1380 AH), to extract and derive the foundational principles and jurisprudential rules upon which Mālikī legal reasoning is constructed. Al-Ghumārī’s methodology is distinguished by its comprehensive evidential analysis of all the issues discussed, making the work akin to an encyclopedic treatment that links foundational principles with derived rulings, while evaluating the strength and weakness of evidences—an approach that sets his commentary apart from other explanations of the Risāla, owing to his unique combination of juristic insight and tradition scholarship. We reveal that al-Ghumārī adopts a distinct methodological framework grounded in objectivity when presenting Mālikī evidences prior to critique, coupled with a strong analytical sense that leads him, at times, to oppose certain Mālikī positions when they contradict his methodology. Nevertheless, the sharpness of his critique in this work is noticeably milder than in his other writings, as his primary aim here is to support the Mālik school rather than refute it. The research also highlights al-Ghumārī’s broad scholarly exposure, exceptional memorization, precision in legal reasoning, and adept use of both textual and rational proofs, along with clear methodological consistency, all of which make him a distinguished example of a scholar who is both jurist and traditionalist expert. The findings demonstrate that Imām Mālik founded his school upon the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Muslim community, and that al-Ghumārī reaffirmed the integrity of the Mālikī school by elucidating its robust fundamental-based structure. The study further shows that al-Ghumārī employed in his evidential method approximately four hundred Qur’anic verses, around 2,500 traditions, more than fifty instances of consensus, and over one hundred sources, reflecting the depth and strength of the scholarly material upon which he built his reconstruction of Mālikī legal principles and rulings.