Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat: Al-Buhuti's Second Major Hanbali Reference

Mansur ibn Yunus al-Buhuti's Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat (The Commentary on Muntaha al-Iradat) is his commentary on the text Muntaha al-Iradat fi Jam' al-Muqni' ma' al-Tanqih wa-Ziyadat (The Reach of Desires: A Compilation of Al-Muqni' and Al-Tanqih with Additions) by Ibn al-Najjar al-Futuhi (898–972 AH / 1493–1564 CE). Together with Kashshaf al-Qina, Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat forms the two pillars of al-Buhuti's contribution to Hanbali legal systemization and remains one of the two most authoritative references for Hanbali law in the modern period.

Muntaha al-Iradat, the text on which al-Buhuti comments, is itself a synthesis of two major Hanbali works: Al-Muqni' of Ibn Qudamah and Al-Tanqih al-Mushbi' of Ala ad-Din al-Mardawi. Ibn al-Najjar compiled these two texts into a single comprehensive Hanbali manual, adding his own contributions and corrections. The result was one of the most carefully constructed Hanbali legal texts — a manual that combined the authority of Ibn Qudamah's tradition with the preferred positions identified by al-Mardawi's exhaustive research.

Al-Buhuti's Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat builds on this already synthesized foundation. His commentary provides the explanation, evidential basis, and additional discussion needed to make Muntaha al-Iradat fully usable as a practical reference. The result is a work that, like Kashshaf al-Qina, serves as a comprehensive and reliable guide to the Hanbali school's preferred positions across the full range of Islamic law.

The two commentaries — Kashshaf al-Qina and Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat — are related but not identical. They address overlapping topics from slightly different angles and occasionally present nuances or additional discussions not found in the other. Scholars working in Hanbali law often consult both, using each to check and supplement the other. Contemporary Saudi legal institutions and scholars regularly cite both works in fatwas and legal discussions.

Al-Buhuti's methodological approach in Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat is consistent with his approach in Kashshaf al-Qina: he identifies the rajih Hanbali positions, provides the hadith evidence where relevant, notes cases of internal Hanbali disagreement without excessive elaboration, and ensures the text is usable as a practical reference rather than merely a scholarly survey.

The Hanbali tradition in which al-Buhuti worked had, by the seventeenth century, been shaped by centuries of commentary, controversy, and refinement. The school's engagement with the bold independent positions of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim had created a tradition that was simultaneously deeply rooted in the prophetic sources and capable of independent legal analysis. Al-Buhuti's achievement was to synthesize this tradition into a systematic reference that could serve both the scholar and the practitioner.

Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat remains in active use in Hanbali legal education, particularly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Its relationship to Kashshaf al-Qina ensures that serious students of Hanbali law engage with both texts — each illuminating the other — as they build their mastery of the school's positions and methodology.