Introduction

Al-Bidayah fi al-Fiqh (The Beginning in Islamic Jurisprudence) is a foundational Hanafi legal primer composed by Burhan al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Marghinani (511–593 AH / 1117–1197 CE), one of the foremost jurists of the Hanafi school. Born in Marghinan in the Fergana Valley of Central Asia, al-Marghinani received his formation in fiqh and usul at the hands of the leading scholars of Transoxiana. He spent the greater part of his scholarly life in Samarqand, where he composed numerous works before producing his celebrated corpus of Hanafi jurisprudence.

Al-Bidayah fi al-Fiqh was written as an introductory text suitable for beginning students of Hanafi law. Al-Marghinani later described his own dissatisfaction with the level of the work — finding it too concise to convey adequate legal reasoning — and this dissatisfaction drove him to compose its famous expansion, Bidayat al-Mubtadi, and then the monumental four-volume commentary known as al-Hidayah fi Sharh Bidayat al-Mubtadi. Al-Hidayah became the most authoritative Hanafi legal manual in history, studied in madrasas across the Islamic world for eight centuries. Al-Bidayah thus occupies a seminal place in the tradition: it is the seed text from which the Hidayah grew.

The text follows the standard arrangement of classical fiqh literature, proceeding through the major chapters of Islamic law in order: purification (taharah), prayer (salah), zakah, fasting (sawm), hajj, commercial transactions (buyu'), marriage (nikah), divorce (talaq), and criminal law (hudud and qisas), among other chapters. The rulings presented follow the principal opinion of the Hanafi school, drawing primarily on the legacy of Imam Abu Hanifah (80–150 AH), Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad al-Shaybani. Al-Marghinani presents positions concisely and without extensive argumentation, in keeping with the introductory nature of the work.

The significance of al-Bidayah fi al-Fiqh lies not in its own independent circulation — which was limited compared to al-Hidayah — but in its role as the nucleus of al-Marghinani's jurisprudential project. Understanding al-Bidayah allows the reader to appreciate the organizational logic and doctrinal priorities that al-Marghinani later elaborated in al-Hidayah, where each statement of al-Bidayah becomes the subject of detailed legal reasoning, comparison of scholarly opinions, and citation of hadith evidence. The Hanafi school valued al-Marghinani not merely as a transmitter but as a mujtahid fi al-madhab, a jurist capable of deriving rulings within the school's methodological framework.

For students approaching Hanafi fiqh, al-Bidayah fi al-Fiqh offers a disciplined introduction to the legal positions of the school, presented in the compact style that typified classical Islamic legal education. It stands as a testament to al-Marghinani's commitment to systematic legal instruction and his belief that Islamic law must be accessible without sacrificing rigor. Readers are encouraged to study al-Bidayah alongside al-Hidayah, which remains indispensable for any serious engagement with Hanafi jurisprudence and its transmission through the centuries.