The school of the Imam, the Rabbani (divinely learned) Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani, has been blessed with great favor, abundant care, and widespread propagation in the Arabian Peninsula. Its implementation has become the standard in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the books of the Hanbalis have become the accredited texts for instruction in mosques, institutes, and universities. The application of Sharia in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since its inception to this day has led to an increased commitment to the books of the school and care for them.
The book "al-Mughni," through which Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama explained "Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi," stands at the forefront of these books and is an encyclopedia of comparative jurisprudence. Its author did not merely content himself with explaining the Mukhtasar, deriving its chapters, mentioning its sections, refining its issues, and providing proofs for them; rather, he mentioned—to a degree nearing comprehensiveness—the schools of thought of the jurists and their arguments, compared between them, defended the school of his Imam, and gave every ijtihad (legal exertion) its due right in terms of expounding its view and clarifying its evidence. His affiliation with the school of the great Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal did not compel him to support it in every instance the scholars of his school held, but rather he approached all of it with the insight of a jurist and the sagacity of a mujtahid.
Due to the need of students, researchers, scholars, and judges for it, and because its previous editions—despite the diligent efforts of their preparers, may Allah increase their reward—lack the completion of the means of critical editing (1), we have devoted ourselves to the book. We have studied its manuscripts in the manner revealed by our description
(1) The first edition issued by Muhammad Rashid Rida and reviewed by Abu al-Tahir is devoid of vowelization and contains only a few simple notes. We have benefited from some of them and attributed what we benefited from to its author. It is taken from a manuscript at the Dar al-Kutub al-Masriyya, although the copier changed some of the phrases. Surprisingly, we found this change in ink, in his own handwriting, on the manuscript copy preserved at the library. As for the edition issued by Maktabat al-Qahira, its introduction was written by Mahmud 'Abd al-Wahhab Fa'id, and the chapters from the first to the sixth, as well as the eighth chapter, were edited by Dr. Taha Muhammad al-Zayni. He did not return to the manuscripts of the book, but sufficed with some vowelization and a few notes. The seventh and ninth chapters were edited by Mahmud 'Abd al-Wahhab Fa'id and 'Abd al-Qadir Ahmad 'Ata, and it contains some brief takhrij (authentication) of certain hadiths, and in some places, reference was made to the Dar al-Kutub manuscripts 18 and 39 in very few instances. The tenth chapter was edited by Mahmud 'Abd al-Wahhab Fa'id. At its beginning, the publisher apologized for failing to mention that the editor of the tenth chapter participated in the editing of the sixth chapter, and for failing to mark his contributions with the letter (Fa) in the seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters. Furthermore, at the end of it, the editor stated that he participated in the editing of the last five chapters, and that he wished his colleague had spent more of his time than he did, preserved his commentaries, and paid greater attention to typographic corrections.
