المراجعة الفيلولوجية لمنهج تحقيق متن الغاية والتقريب: مقارنة بين الطبعة المعلَّقة لماجد الحموي والشرح المحقَّق كفاية الأخيار

Taḥqīq Methodology in Matn Al-Ghāyah wa Al-Taqrīb: Comparing Al-Ḥamawī's Annotated Edition and the Critically-Edited Commentary Kifāyah Al-Akhyār

Abstract

This study examines the tahqīq methodology applied to Matn al-Ghāyah wa al-Taqrīb (Mukhtaṣar Abī Shujāʿ), a foundational Shāfiʿī fiqh text, by comparing two contemporary editorial approaches: the annotated edition by Mājid al-Ḥamawī (Dār Ibn Ḥazm) and the critically edited commentary Kifāyah al-Akhyār by ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Sumayṭ and Muḥammad Shādī ʿArbash (Dār al-Minhāj). Using a critical philological method, this study analyzes the editorial introductions of both works rather than the matn's content itself, focusing on the transparency of manuscript description, selection criteria for the base text, and documentation of textual variants. Findings show that al-Ḥamawī's edition functions as a pedagogical annotation of an already circulating printed text, without reference to any manuscript source, whereas the Ibn Sumayṭ/ʿArbash edition of Kifāyah al-Akhyār is grounded in eight documented manuscripts, including the author's autograph held at the Gotha Library, two copies close to the composition date, one from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University, and four from the Azharite library. The study concludes that the label "tahqīq" is applied inconsistently across editions, and recommends that researchers evaluate an edition's introduction directly rather than relying on publishers' commercial descriptions.