Zaynuddīn bin Ibrāhīm, known as Ibn Nujaym (1520-1563) is one of the most prolific authors of the Hanafi Madhhab from the period of the early Ottoman rule. In his time, he was one of the lecturers at the famous Al-Azhar. He became famous for his work Al-Ashbāh wa an-Nẓāir in the area of legal (fiqh) rules, in which, on a theoretical level, he demonstrated the importance and role of legal rules in the understanding and interpretation of law, according to the Hanafi legal doctrine.
He is the author of a large commentary entitled Al-Baḥr ar-Rāiq on the work Kanz ad- Daqāiq by ʻAbdullah Ḥāfiẓuddīn an-Nasafī (1240-1310), in which he expounded his understanding of the classical Hanafi doctrine of Sharia law. Unfortunately, he did not manage to finish the work, because he was overtaken by an early death. A significant part of his opus is the study of Sharia law methodology. He presented his views in this area in the work Mishkāt al-Anwār fī Uṣūl al-Manār, known as Fatḥ al-Ghaffār bi Sharḥ al-Manār. It was created as a commentary on the work of ʻAbdullah Ḥāfiẓuddin an-Nasafī Al-Manār. The main assumptions on which the theory of legal interpretation in Ibn Nujaym rests are his views that the interpretation of law is a way of determining the meaning of a legal norm. A legal norm can be interpreted in several ways at the same time. Such an approach gives the lawyer the opportunity to opt for one of the possible interpretations that he considers to be the most expedient at that moment. Ibn Nujaym believes that a legal norm, which refers to some legal work, can be interpreted using several legal methods available to the lawyer. The most common methods used by lawyers are: linguistic, logical, natural-legal or value-based and teleological or objective method. In this paper, we will look at Ibn Nujaym’s understanding of the natural-law or value-based method of interpreting law.
Key words: interpretation of law, Sharia-legal norm, Sharia-legal provision, legal method, legal addressee.