Adab al-Mashy ila al-Salah - Damin Muallafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
- Author died
- 1206 AH
- Editions
- Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University
Adab al-Mashy ila al-Salah (Arabic: آداب المشي إلى الصلاة, lit. 'The Manners of Walking to Prayer') is a legal manual on acts of worship (ibadat) written by the Najdi Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1115–1206 AH / 1703–1792 CE) .
Title and Scope
The book is commonly titled after its opening chapter, Bab Adab al-Mashy ila al-Salah, though it is also known as Kitab al-Ibadat because its actual scope extends across the essential acts of worship . Naming the entire treatise after its first section is an instance of designating a whole work by a part of it . The text addresses the legal rulings of prayer (salah), funerals (jana'iz), zakat, and fasting (siyam), alongside related etiquettes such as greetings (salam) and seeking permission (isti'dhan) .
The author did not begin the treatise with the detailed rulings of ritual purification (taharah) or conditions of prayer because he had already treated those subjects separately in his treatise Shurut al-Salah wa-Arkanuha wa-Wajibatuha . As noted by the scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Mani, students customarily studied Shurut al-Salah immediately prior to Adab al-Mashy ila al-Salah, treating it as an introductory part of the work .
Structure and Methodology
The work opens with the etiquettes of proceeding to the mosque—such as leaving home in a state of ritual purity, observing tranquility and dignity (al-sakina wa-l-waqar), shortening one's stride, avoiding clasping the fingers, and reciting the transmitted supplications—and then proceeds through the description and rulings of prayer up to funeral rites, followed by sections on zakat and fasting .
In compiling the book, the author sought to present the essential practical knowledge that every Muslim requires for daily worship, guided by Ahmad ibn Hanbal's principle that one must seek the knowledge necessary to establish one's religion . The rulings are supported by evidence from the Quran, the prophetic Sunnah, scholarly consensus (ijma'), and the deductions of qualified jurists (mujtahidun), stripped of weak or non-standard positions found in later compilations . Textual comparisons show that much of its wording closely matches Mansur ibn Yunus al-Buhuti's Hanbali legal commentary Kashshaf al-Qina .
Reception and Commentaries
The manual has been widely taught in educational curricula and mosques as an accessible primer for beginners . Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz recommended it as a clear and beneficial guide for learning the jurisprudence of prayer and fasting .
A prominent commentary on the work was delivered by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al al-Shaykh, whose lectures were compiled and annotated by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Qasim under the title Sharh Kitab Adab al-Mashy ila al-Salah aw al-Ibadat .
Print Editions
The work has been published in numerous individual and collective editions, including:
- Bombay: al-Matba'a al-Suratiyya (1336 AH, 57 pp.) .
- Cairo: Matba'at al-Manar (1340 AH, 64 pp.) .
- Cairo: al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya (1345 AH, published within a collection of texts beginning with al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya, pp. 65–127) .
- Mecca: al-Matba'a al-Majidiyya (1367 AH, supervised and corrected by Muhammad ibn Mani', 36 pp.) .
- Riyadh: Published within Mu'allafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (Section 2: Fiqh, Vol. 2, edited by Abd al-Karim al-Lahim, Nasir al-Turaym, and Sa'ud al-Bishr, 56 pp.) .
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