al-Durr al-Mandud fi al-Salat wa al-Salam ala Sahib al-Maqam al-Mahmud
- Author died
- 974 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Minhaj
al-Durr al-Mandud fi al-Salat wa al-Salam ala Sahib al-Maqam al-Mahmud (Arabic: الدر المنضود في الصلاة والسلام على صاحب المقام المحمود, lit. 'The Strung Pearls Concerning Invocations of Blessings and Peace upon the Possessor of the Praiseworthy Station') is a treatise on the rulings, formulas, merits, and occasions for sending blessings and peace upon the Islamic prophet Muhammad, written by the Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (909–974 AH / 1504–1567 CE) .
Composition and Sources
In his preface, al-Haytami states that he authored the work as a means of devotion to the Prophet Muhammad . Observing that readers of his era often found lengthy treatises difficult to master, he designed the book as a concise yet thorough manual . He took the primary content and aims of al-Qawl al-Badi' fi al-Salat 'ala al-Habib al-Shafi' by al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH) and incorporated them into his own text, while adding supplementary benefits, clarifying omitted points, and qualifying unconditioned statements .
Structure and Content
Al-Haytami arranged the book into an introduction (muqaddimah), six chapters (fusal), and a conclusion (khatimah) :
- Introduction: A detailed commentary on the Quranic verse إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا (Surah al-Ahzab: 56) . It analyzes the linguistic and theological meanings of salat, the rhetoric of the verse, and the legal ruling (hukm) of invoking blessings and peace, including the Shafi'i legal position on its obligatoriness during the final tashahhud of the ritual prayer .
- Chapter One: The general command to send blessings upon the Prophet at all times, the encouragement to beautify the invocation, and the assertion that abundant invocation is a hallmark of Ahl al-Sunnah .
- Chapter Two: The various transmitted formulas (kayfiyyat) of invoking blessings upon the Prophet .
- Chapter Three: Subsidiary legal and linguistic inquiries connected to the formulas, such as sending greetings of peace on non-prophets, the most virtuous wording of the prayer, adding the title Sayyiduna before the Prophet's name, adding supplications for mercy (al-tarahhum), and the dislike of mentioning salat without salam or vice versa .
- Chapter Four: The spiritual virtues, rewards, and worldly and otherworldly benefits of sending blessings on the Prophet, concluding with reported dream visions (manamat) that encourage the practice .
- Chapter Five: Warnings and spiritual consequences for neglecting to invoke blessings upon the Prophet, particularly when his name is mentioned .
- Chapter Six: Forty-six specific occasions and circumstances in which invoking blessings is legislated, including after ritual purification, following the call to prayer (adhan), on Fridays, entering and exiting mosques, during the pilgrimage rites, in times of distress and plague, and when transcribing hadith .
- Conclusion: Principles governing the legal and devotional use of weak (da'if) and fabricated (mawdu') hadiths .
Publication
The work was edited by Bu Jumu'ah Abd al-Qadir Makri and Muhammad Shadi Mustafa Arbash and published in one volume by Dar al-Minhaj in Jeddah (1426 AH / 2005 CE) .
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