al-Futuhat al-Rabbaniyya ala al-Adhkar al-Nawawiyya
- Author died
- 1057 AH
- Editions
- Jam'iyyat al-Nashr wa-al-Ta'lif al-Azhariyya
al-Futūḥāt al-Rabbāniyyah ʿalā al-Adhkār al-Nawawiyyah (The Lordly Openings upon al-Nawawi’s Adhkar) is an extensive commentary written by the Makkan scholar Ibn ʿAllān (d. 1057 AH / 1647 CE) on al-Adhkār by Imam al-Nawawi (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The base text, originally titled Ḥilyat al-Abrār wa-Shiʿār al-Akhyār fī Talkhīṣ al-Daʿawāt wa-l-Adhkār, is a well-known manual compiled by al-Nawawi covering supplications, litanies, and practical devotions across day and night . Ibn ʿAllān undertook the composition of al-Futūḥāt al-Rabbāniyyah after observing that earlier scholars had not provided a commentary that comprehensively met students' needs regarding uncommon vocabulary (gharīb), legal adjudications (al-rājiḥ fī al-masāʾil), and the deeper spiritual meanings and secrets of specific invocations .
Methodology and Sources
Ibn ʿAllān adopted a middle path between excessive brevity and tedious prolixity . His commentary addresses textual obscurities, details points of Shafi'i jurisprudence arising from the cited texts, and documents the hadith collections (mukharrijūn) while evaluating the authenticity and status of individual narrations . Although noting that complete chains of transmission (asānīd) are prized among hadith specialists, he deliberately omitted lengthy chains so that the work would remain accessible to general readers as well as scholars .
A central source for the commentary was the dictation collection (Amālī) and hadith extraction compiled by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH / 1449 CE)—known as Natāʾij al-Afkār fī Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Adhkār—from which Ibn ʿAllān frequently cites hadith verdicts, textual variants, and source identifications .
Reception and Editions
al-Futūḥāt al-Rabbāniyyah is widely recognized as the primary comprehensive commentary on al-Nawawi’s al-Adhkār . The book has been published in multiple printings, including an eight-volume edition . Excerpts of its linguistic, grammatical, and hadith glosses have also been integrated as marginalia in historical editions of al-Nawawi's al-Adhkār, such as the Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī print issued in Cairo in 1375 AH .
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