Structure and Contents of the Tabsirah

Tabsirat al-Hukkam fi Usul al-Aqdiya wa-Manahij al-Ahkam (The Enlightenment of Judges in the Principles of Judicial Decisions and the Methods of Rulings) is organized as a systematic guide for practicing judges (hukkam) covering both the theoretical principles of judicial procedure and the substantive areas of law most frequently encountered in court. The work runs to two substantial volumes and represents the most comprehensive treatment of Maliki judicial procedure in the classical literature.

The first major section addresses the qualifications, appointment, and conduct of judges. Ibn Farhun discusses what is required of a person to serve as a judge — learning in the law, personal integrity, freedom from conflicts of interest, capacity to make decisions — and the ethical standards to which a judge must hold himself. He treats the procedural rules that govern court proceedings: how a judge must conduct himself, how he should receive litigants, how he should deliberate, and how he should write and record his decisions. The concern throughout is practical: Ibn Farhun is writing for people who will actually sit on the bench.

The second major section covers the law of evidence (bayyinat) in detail: the types of evidence admissible in Maliki courts, the rules governing testimony, the qualifications required of witnesses, the circumstances under which testimony is accepted or rejected, and the various situations where ordinary testimonial proof is unavailable or insufficient. The Maliki tradition developed particularly rich doctrine on evidence — influenced by the school's use of the practice of the people of Medina and its acceptance of certain forms of circumstantial evidence — and Ibn Farhun's treatment reflects this richness.

Subsequent sections address oath-taking procedures, the law of contractual and commercial disputes, the rules for resolving inheritance disputes, criminal procedure including hudud offenses (those with fixed scriptural punishments) and ta'zir (discretionary punishments), and the special procedures applicable to the courts of the complaint inspector (mazalim). The combination of procedural and substantive content makes the work a comprehensive judicial handbook rather than a narrowly procedural manual.