This book is the Introduction to the classical work on the Maliki Fiqh written by Abu Muhammad, Abdullah ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī also called Mālik Sagīr (little Imam Malik) due to his vast knowledge of the Deen and majorly on the maliki School of jurisprudence at a very young age. It was recorded in books of history that this book was written when he was just 18 years old. The book is called ar-Risalah which means a letter. It was a response from his friend who wrote a letter requesting ibn Abī Zayd to write back to him in summary the matters that are obligatory upon him in the Deen from the Aqeedah aspect, to the Ibadah aspect, the transactional aspect, the Obligatory, the recommended, the prohibited and the detested matters in the Deen based on the Maliki school of Jurisprudence.
The author (Rahimahullah) wrote as an Introduction – a 4 page treatise, encompassing creedal matters from the top to the bottom. For someone to be able to summarize Aqeedah into just 4 pages all of the points in it are supported with evidence from both the Qur’an and Hadith which are the two sources where we can get our Creed from.
The introduction, so rich that hundreds of pages were written to unlock the deep and sound information embedded in it. From those who wrote a commentary on it is the Muhaddith of Madinah, Shaykh al-‘Allāmah Abdul Muhsin al-Abbād al-Badr حفظه الله, called قطف الجنى الداني في شرح مقدمة ابن أبي زيد القيرواني, also his son, Shaykh Abdur-razaq ibn Abdilmuhsin bn Abbād al-Badr did a commentary on it and other scholars from past and present. All the commentaries mentioned here are for the introduction to the book alone which is relevant to our believe system and Creed in general.
This copy of the book has in it the commentary of Shaykh Ahmad bn Yahya an-Najmī Rahimahullah (d. 2008) which in similarity to the two works mentioned above, is a sufficient commentary on the treatise in the absence of none.
English 