The Kitāb al-Umm (Arabic: كـتـاب الأم) is the first exhaustive compendium of Islamic code of law that is used as an authoritative guide by the Shafi'i school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) within the Sunni branch of Islam.[1] The work was composed by the founder of the Shafi'i school, Imām ash-Shāfi‘ī (767–820 CE). The term "al-Umm" means "the exemplar."[1] The Kitab al-Umm is noted for its hermeneutic approach to developing legal principles, basing them on revelation rather than traditional authority.[2]
- ^ a b Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach (2006), Medieval Islamic Civilization, Volume 2, Taylor & Francis, 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-96692-4,
... His massive Kitab al-Umm (The Exemplar) covers the standard topics found in a work of Islamic law ... ...
- ^ Aisha Y. Musa (15 April 2008), Hadith as scripture: discussions on the authority of prophetic traditions in Islam, Macmillan, 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-60535-0,
... authorship of the Risala and Kitab al-Umm, he accepts that 'the Shafi'i school was ahead of other schools in devising hermeneutic arguments that would assure the accommodation of the law to a growing set of Prophetic hadith' ...