Al-Qawl al-Hasan fi jawab al-Qawl li-man القول الحسن في جواب القول لمن

Nūʿī Zādah al-Ḥanafī (Muḥammad ʿAtāʾullāh ibn Yaḥyā ibn Bīr ʿAlī ibn Nuṣūḥ, d. 1044 AH / 1634 CE) was a prominent Ottoman Hanafi jurist and scholar. His treatise al-Qawl al-Ḥasan fī Jawāb al-Qawl li-Man (القول الحسن في جواب القول لمن, “The Fine Statement Regarding Whose Word is Accepted”) is a specialized work on judicial procedure (Fiqh al-Qaḍāʾ) and the Hanafi law of litigation (Aḥkām al-Daʿāwā).

A central question in Hanafi judicial law is determining which litigant’s statement is legally accepted when the claims of the claimant (al-muddaʿī) and defendant (al-muddaʿā ʿalayh) conflict. When conclusive evidence (bayyinah) is unavailable, the judge (qāḍī) must determine whose assertion is given legal precedence (al-qawl qawluhu), often subject to an oath (yamīn).

Nūʿī Zādah compiled this work as a practical reference for judges, jurists, and students of Hanafi fiqh. Drawing on approximately thirty classical Hanafi sources—including legal manuals, fatwa collections, and commentaries—it brings together numerous practical cases and concisely identifies which party’s statement is legally preferred.

This edition is particularly significant as a critical edition based on thirteen manuscripts and one earlier printed copy. Among its sources, the manuscript preserved in the Manuscript Library of Masjid al-Aqsa served as the primary textual source. Its use underscores the remarkable scholarly legacy preserved in the libraries of al-Aqsa and highlights the importance of safeguarding these collections as repositories of the Islamic intellectual heritage.

By combining a rigorous manuscript-based edition with the author’s practical treatment of Hanafi judicial procedure, this publication provides an important resource for the study of Islamic law, legal history, and the transmission of Hanafi scholarship.