Descreption Taken From www.kitaabun.com
Translation of Al-Hidayah Fi Sharh Bidayat Al-Mubtadi , A commentary of Bidayat al-Mubtadi written by the author himself.

Volume Two Covers Books 8 to 17:

Talaq (Divorce)
Ataq (Enancipation)
Ayman (Vows/Oaths)
Hudud (Fixed Penalties)
Sariqah (Theft and Highway Robbery)
Siyar (Relations with Non Muslims)
Laqit (Foundling)
Luqtah (Found Property)
Ibad (Runaway Slaves)
Mafqud (Missing Person)
The Hidayah represents the refined, distilled and authentic version of a legal tradition developed over many centuries. It presents the corpus of Hanafi law in its approved and preferred form and forges an organic link with the other schools of law. There is no book that can match the power of al-Hidayah as a teaching manual. Education in Islamic law is not complete without this book. Accordingly, each and every madrassah, whatever its affiliation, imparts instruction in Islamic law through al-Hidayah. The book was designed by the author in such a way that it makes a vigorous interaction between teacher and student unavoidable. Each sentence presents a challenge both to the teacher and the taught. In this process, the student acquires a deep knowledge of the issues of fiqh and the methods of reasoning employed by Islamic law. The teacher, on his part, has a unique opportunity, while using the book in the class session, to give full expression to his skills and abilities.

The primary reason for its popularity is the reliability of its statements and the soundness of its legal reasoning. Most researche rs and schola rs fi rst consult al-Hidayah before they move to another source. In the area of Muslim pe rsonal law, it has been the major source relied upon by courts in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The need for this book, since the day it was written, led to the writing of well over forty commentaries and glosses on it, and this does not include the books written to document its traditions. This is rare not only for Islamic law, but for any field of knowledge.

In comparing the Mukhtasar of al-Quduri, the book in which al-Hidayah is based upon, we note the following differences:

Al-Quduri has errors that have been corrected in Bidayat al-Mubtadi (the matn, bold text of al-Hidayah)
Bidayat al-Mubtadi is based on Quduri but has 25% more text as it includes those rulings that were missed in Quduri
Bidayat al-Mubtadi states the rulings in a more comprehensive way so that the rule is clearly understood
Bidayat al-Mubtadi is organised in a better way
Bidayat al-Mubtadi has a commentary written by the author himself. This commentary is called the Hidayah. This is not the case with al-Quduri
About the Author
Shaykh al-Islam, Muhaddith and Hafiz, Abu al-Hasan Burhan al-Din 'Ali b. Abi Bakr b. 'Abd al Jalal al-Farghani, al-Marghinani, the great Hanafi jurist, was born at Marghian in the vicinity of Farghana in 530/1135 (in Present Day Uzbekistan) He died in 593/1197. He studied with Mufti Najm al Din Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Nasafi, his son Abu'l Layth Ahmad b. 'Umar al Nasafi and other eminent teachers, and excelled in Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh and other studies. His scholarship was recognised and praised by eminent scholars such as Imam Fakhr al-Din Qadi Khan, Zahir al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Bukhari (the author of al-Fatawa al-Zahiriyyah) and others.

About the Translator: Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Shariah and Law, Islamabad. He obtained his law degree (L.L.B) from Punjab University in 1969. In 1983, he was awarded a gold medal for his performance in the L.L.M (Shariah) at the International Islamic University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, USA. His published works include: Theories of Islamic Law, The concept of Riba and Islamic Banking, and General Principles of Criminal Law. He has also published several research articles on Islamic Law and has also translated into English Ibn Rushd's well known book, Bidayat al-Mujtihid (The Distinguished Jurist's Primer) in two volumes.
The Book is also Available From www.kitaabun.com The specialist in Classical Islamic Books