Refinement of the Book of Agreements

With commentary

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Musa ibn Muhammad al-Lakhmi al-Shatibi 

The text was abridged by: Ahmed bin Nasser Al-Tayyar

The book “Al-Muwafaqat” (The Agreements) is about explaining the objectives of the Book and the Sunnah, the rulings and the general interests inherent in the individual proofs and individual pieces of legislation, and introducing the secrets of the obligations in the Sharia. It was authored by Al-Hafiz Ibrahim bin Musa Al-Shatibi (d. 790 AH 1388). Ibrahim bin Musa Al-Shatibi chose a name for the book other than “Al-Muwafaqat” which is “Al-Ta’rif bi Asrar al-Taklif” (The Introduction to the Secrets of the Obligation), but he changed it to “Al-Muwafaqat.” This was because of a vision of one of his sheikhs when the sheikh said to Imam Al-Shatibi, “I saw you last night in a dream and in your hand was a book that you authored, so I asked you about it and you told me that it was Al-Muwafaqat, and I asked you about the meaning of this nice name and you told me that you reconciled with it the doctrines of Ibn Al-Qasim and Abu Hanifa.”
Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Shatibi included in his work many of the secrets of religious obligation related to Islamic law, and he divided his book into five sections:
The necessary scientific introductions to the intended topic.
In rulings and matters related to them in terms of their conception and the rulings issued by or against them.
In the objectives of Islamic law and the rulings related to it.
In enumerating the legal evidence and explaining what is added to it in general.
In the rulings on independent reasoning and following precedent, and those who are characterized by each of them, and what is related to that in terms of conflict, preference, question and answer.