al-Khulasa al-Bahiya fi Tartib Ahdath al-Sira al-Nabawiya
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al-Khulasa al-Bahiya fi Tartib Ahdath al-Sira al-Nabawiya (The Splendid Summary in Arranging the Events of the Prophetic Biography) is a concise chronological handbook on the prophetic biography (al-Sira al-Nabawiyya) compiled by the contemporary Egyptian scholar Wahid Abd al-Salam Bali .
Purpose and Objectives
The work was conceived as a memorizable base text (matn) for beginning students of Islamic knowledge . The author noted that students often delve into detailed historical accounts without mastering the precise chronological sequence of key events, such as military campaigns and expeditions . The primer was therefore designed to provide learners with an overarching framework before embarking on extensive studies .
In the author's proposed pedagogical curriculum for studying the Prophetic biography, al-Khulasa al-Bahiya is designated as the primary text to be memorized during the foundational stage (marhalat al-ta'sis) . Bali identified several specific benefits of mastering the text, including:
- Establishing the chronological history of Islamic legislation and discerning abrogating from abrogated legal rulings (al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh) .
- Precision regarding the exact dates of the Prophet's major military campaigns (ghazawat), expeditions (saraya), and incoming delegations (wufud) .
- Identifying the Prophet's scribes and what they transcribed, his appointed regional governors (umara'), his envoys sent to contemporary rulers, and his muezzins alongside their places of calling to prayer .
- Detailing biographical data concerning each of the Prophet's wives, including the month of marriage and the year of death .
Method and Structure
The book presents a strictly chronological arrangement of the Prophet's life, synthesizing various historical reports and determining the soundest positions on disputed chronological points . In its introductory sections, the work includes a treatise on the spiritual intentions that a seeker of knowledge should formulate when studying the Sira, outlining forty-four distinct intentions encompassing emulation of the Prophet, devotion, legal understanding, and conveying knowledge .
The author completed the preface to the work's second edition on 10 Ramadan 1428 AH .
Commentary and Editions
Due to its compressed, condensed format, the primer was subsequently expanded and explained in an extensive commentary titled al-Aghsan al-Nadiya Sharh al-Khulasa al-Bahiya by Abu Asma' Muhammad ibn Taha ibn Sha'ban . Bali reviewed and endorsed this commentary in a preface penned at Minshat Abbas in Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt, dated 4 Rajab 1431 AH . The commentary also received an introduction by Dr. Abd al-Bari Muhammad al-Tahir, professor of Islamic history at Fayoum University's Faculty of Dar al-Ulum, and was published jointly by Dar Subul al-Salam and Dar Ibn Hazm .
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