This is a very important book by al-Imam Ash-Shawkani,  in which he has compiled a concise text Ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah fee al-Masaail al-Fiqhiyyah / الدرر البهية في المسائل الفقهية in which he outlined the most preponderant views in the matters of Fiqh based on authentic proofs and text-based reasoning. Shaykh Siddiq Hasan Khan described it as, “leaving out the opinions that are mere thoughts since they amount to the hear-says of it and without paying attention to those that became popular (of the opinions) since the truth alone deserves to be followed…”

Shaykh Siddiq Hasan Khan continued regarding ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah, “the resemblance of this concise piece to the comprehensive works among the Books of Fiqh is like the metal mold to the dross as is known to whosoever is deeply rooted in knowledge…”

The English translation has been based on the Arabic edition published by Dar Ibn Hazm (Beirut), which has been reviewed by Shaykh Muhammad Subhi bin Hasan Hallaq (h), the renowned Yemen based scholar of Hadith and Fiqh and well-known for his efforts in tracing, editing and publishing the manuscripts of the works of Imam Ash-Shawkani (r). Shaykh Muhammad Subhi bin Hasan Hallaq (h) states:

 "The book, Ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah fee al-Masaail al-Fiqhiyyah is among the best books of Fiqh not sticking to (and blind following) any particular Madhab (school of Fiqh) in its form and content ... ” Shaykh Muhammad Subhi bin Hasan Hallaq (h)

About The Author

Mohammad bin Ali Ash-Showkani was from the Zaydi school of law originally, and called for a return to the textual sources of the Quran and hadith. He viewed himself as a mujtahid, or authority to whom others in the Muslim community had to defer in details of religious law. Of his work issuing fatwas, ash-Showkani stated 'I acquired knowledge without a price and I wanted to give it thus. Part of the fatwa-issuing work of many noted scholars typically is devoted to the giving of ordinary opinions to private questioners. Ash-Showkani refers both to his major fatwas, which were collected and preserved as a book, and to his "shorter" fatwas, which he said "could never be counted" and which were not recorded.

He is credited with developing a series of syllabi for attaining various ranks of scholarship and used a strict system of legal analysis based on Sunni thought. He insisted that a jurists who wanted to be a mujtahid fī'l-madhhab (a scholar who is qualified to exercise ijtihad within a school of Islamic law), was required to do ijtihad, which stemmed from his opposition to taqlid for a mujtahid.

Despite his Shiite background, he is regarded by many as a revivalist and has influenced contemporary Islamic movements in the Muslim world such as the Ahl-i Hadith and Salafi Movement . His legal decisions and discussions are frequently used in contemporary debate among Muslim scholars. Allama Showkani died in the year 1255 A.H.