Al-Khasa'is Al-Muhammadiya

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The science of Khasa'is encompasses the study of the uniqueness of the actions, the attributes, and the essence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as well as the special gifts given to him, and the special gifts that are given to the Muslim Ummah by virtue of being the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. Knowledge of the Khasa'is is considered to be one of the keys to benefiting from one's relationship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, since his unique aspects provide a key to innumerable blessings.  

In the history of Islam, the earliest works in the genre of Khasa'is date from the time of the early Imams and compilers of Hadith. This present work consists of translations of two major works in the genre of Khasais and one supplemental work from three of the great scholars of the Ummah: Bidayat al-Sul fi Tafdhil al-Rasul ﷺ of Shaykh 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salaam, as well as Al-Mudhaj al-Labib fi Khasa’is al-Habib ﷺ of Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, and selections from Matali' al-Masarrat li Jala' Dala'il al-Khayrat of Shaykh Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Fasi.

However, in modern times the science of Khasa'is has been neglected, to the point that many Muslims have become unaware of its existence. This present volume is an attempt to rectify this deficiency, to revive the Khasa'is to an English-speaking audience in a manner befitting the unique honor, majesty, and significance of Allah's Final Messenger ﷺ. Each page is the result of a collaboration of a world-class team of translators, editors, designers, typesetters, and printers from across four continents, and every detail represents a fusion of traditional knowledge and design elements with state-of-the-art book production methods. The result is a work the like of which has never before been printed in the English language, that is sure to occupy a place of honor in the library or home.

• Authors: Shaykh 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salaam, Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Shaykh Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Fasi; Foreword by Yasir Fahmy
• Translators: Derrick Peat, Moustafa Elqabbany
• Pages: 346
• Publisher: Imam Ghazali Publishing
• Binding: Hardcover

A Portrait of the Prophet: As Seen by His Contemporaries (Ash-shamā'il al-Muhammadiyya)

Portrait of a Prophet belongs to the traditional genre of Islamic 'sacred history' sources known as seerah (biography). It contains a famous and a most indispensable collection of authentic traditions (ahadith), listing the main texts from which to glean the beautiful attributes, both moral and physical, of the Holy Prophet – Peace and Blessings be upon Him; attributes to which Muslims in all ages referred over and over, for the purposes of both meditation and edification.

At no time is this sacred collection of traditions more needed, as an object of knowledge and as food for thought, than in ours, when the excesses of worldly concerns and the superfluity of material distractions seem to make people forget that the greatest fruit of life, and thus of religious faith, is beauty of soul.

The hadith of the Prophet provide the role model for all Muslims and give an example of how Qur'anic doctrine was actually to be lived in daily life. Therefore this huge corpus of 10 volumes is central.

Here the reader is able to go back 14 centuries and be in the very presence of the Prophet, Peace and Blessings be upon Him, through the authentic recorded sayings transmitted by the recognized transmitter al Tirmidhi who died in 912, some 350 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. This particular collection is of the recorded sayings of the Prophet's contemporaries, regarding his very person and presence, down to the color of his eyes and skin.

In Islam, two sources are used to explain the religion and its laws: the Qur'an, a revered text, and the hadith, the sayings and activities of the Prophet Muhammad as reported by friends and followers during his lifetime. This skilled translation, which includes the Arabic of one of the key Islamic texts, long-awaited in English, presents a fascinating selection of hadith compiled by the ninth-century scholar at-Tirmidhi that humanizes the Prophet for modern audiences, presenting him through the eyes of contemporaries who comment not only on his spiritual demeanor and qualities but also on his physical appearance and mannerisms, including his hairdressing, his sitting posture, his sandals and turban, his armor, his favorite condiments, and his jests and laughter.