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Seal of Mawlānā Samiruddin Qasmi ṢāḥebSamiruddin Qasmi
Title page of Kitab al-Asl

Kitab al-Asl

کتاب الاصل

كتاب الأصل

Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani's al-Asl, the foundational book of Hanafi jurisprudence, edited and fully vowelled in twelve volumes

Subject
Fiqh
Language
Arabic
Volumes
12
Year
2026
VolumesWhich volume to download?Which volume to share?12
  1. 1Volume 1جلد اولKitab al-Salah, complete.ReadDownload
  2. 2Volume 2جلد دومKitab al-Hayd to the end of Kitab al-Sarf.ReadDownload
  3. 3Volume 3جلد سومBab al-Khiyar fi'l-Sarf to Bab man istajara ajiran.ReadDownload
  4. 4Volume 4جلد چہارمBab ijarat al-fustat to Bab al-Khiyar.ReadDownload
  5. 5Volume 5جلد پنجمBab amruki bi-yadiki to Kitab al-Fara'id.ReadDownload
  6. 6Volume 6جلد ششمThe saying of Ali ibn Abi Talib to Bab al-Qisas fi'l-Nafs.ReadDownload
  7. 7Volume 7جلد ہفتمBab al-Wakalah fi'l-Damm to Bab al-Dawa.ReadDownload
  8. 8Volume 8جلد ہشتمBab al-Dawa fi'l-Nitaj to Bab iqrar al-abd.ReadDownload
  9. 9Volume 9جلد نہمBab iqrar al-abd al-mahjur to Bab ma yajuz li-ahad al-muzariayn.ReadDownload
  10. 10Volume 10جلد دہمBab ma yajuz min al-muzaraah to Kitab al-Muhayaah.ReadDownload
  11. 11Volume 11جلد یازدہمBab al-muhayaat fi'l-hayawan to Bab al-shahadah fi'l-dayn.ReadDownload
  12. 12Volume 12جلد دوازدہمKitab al-ruju an al-shahadat to Kitab al-Ghasb.ReadDownload

Kitab al-Asl is the earliest book of Hanafi jurisprudence, written by Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani in the narration of Abu Sulayman al-Juzjani, and the first of the works of zahir al-riwayah. This edition sets the whole of it in twelve volumes, about six thousand pages, fully vowelled throughout so that the Arabic can be read aloud. Prepared by Mawlana Samiruddin Qasmi as the base text for his hadith apparatus on it.

This is not one of Mawlana Samiruddin Qasmi’s own works, and it is the only book on this site that is not. It is Kitab al-Asl by Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, the pupil of Abu Hanifah, transmitted in the narration of Abu Sulayman al-Juzjani. It is here because he has edited and set it, and because the volumes that follow it depend on it.

Al-Asl is the first of the books of zahir al-riwayah and the earliest book of Hanafi fiqh there is. Its opening sentence is the whole of its method: Abu Sulayman al-Juzjani, from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, said: I have set out for you the position of Abu Hanifah, and of Abu Yusuf, and my own; and where there is no disagreement in it, that is the position of us all. From there it proceeds, ruling by ruling, in the form of a question put and an answer given, I said… he said…, with no evidence cited for any of it. That is the fact from which everything else on these four shelves follows.

What this edition adds is i’rab: the Arabic is fully vowelled from beginning to end, across roughly six thousand pages, so that a student can read it aloud without first having to parse it. The twelve volumes divide the work by where the text falls rather than by subject, so a volume commonly begins in the middle of a chapter.

The hadith apparatus built on this text, three hadiths and the governing principle beneath every ruling, is a separate and much longer work, of which two volumes exist so far: Al-Asl maa Ahadithihi.