al-Suyuf al-Bawatir liman yuqaddim Salat al-Subh ala al-Fajr al-Akhar
- Author died
- 1265 AH
- Editions
- Markaz Tarim lil-Dirasat wa-al-Nashr
al-Suyuf al-Bawatir liman yuqaddim Salat al-Subh ala al-Fajr al-Akhar (Arabic: السيوف البواتر لمن يقدم صلاة الصبح على الفجر الآخر, lit. 'The Sharp Swords Against Whoever Advances the Morning Prayer Before the Second Dawn') is a legal and astronomical treatise on the time of the dawn prayer written by the Shafi'i jurist Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Hadrami (1209–1265 AH / 1794–1849 CE) . The author completed the work on Sunday, 1 Jumada al-Akhira 1261 AH (1845 CE) .
Title and Composition
The title is established in the author's own handwriting on the title page of the primary manuscript as al-Suyuf al-Bawatir liman yuqaddim Salat al-Subh ala al-Fajr al-Akhar . Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Saqqaf recorded a slight variation in the phrasing of the title as al-Suyuf al-Bawatir ala man yuqaddim al-Subh ala al-Fajr al-Akhar .
The work was composed in response to a contemporary dispute in Hadramawt—specifically in the city of Tarim—over the accurate determination of the true dawn (al-fajr al-sadiq) and the practice of reciting the morning prayer before its legally prescribed time . Traditionally, muezzins in Tarim relied upon the call to prayer from the minaret of the Al Abi Alawi mosque at the eastern edge of the city to observe the dawn horizon . The treatise formed part of an exchange of polemical writings on the topic, which included the treatise al-Sayf al-Battar by Balfaqih and al-Qawl al-Sadiq fi Bayan al-Fajr al-Sadiq al-Mu'tarid wa-Idhad Kalam al-Mu'tarid by Ibn Shihab, completed in 1260 AH .
Structure and Contents
The author arranged the book into chapters (abwab), sub-sections (fusul), and legal issues (masa'il), addressing dawn from both astronomical and juristic standpoints :
- First Chapter: Focuses on the textual derivation of the term fajr and its distinguishing characteristics in the Quran, drawing on Quranic commentaries by al-Baydawi, Abu al-Su'ud, al-Naysaburi, and al-Khatib al-Shirbini, legal works on Quranic rulings, classical poetry, and Arabic lexicography such as al-Fayruzabadi's al-Qamus . It identifies the true dawn by its horizontal spread (i'tirad), its whiteness tinged with red, and its steadily increasing illumination .
- Second Chapter: Examines hadith narrations defining the signs of dawn, utilizing thematic hadith collections and commentaries such as Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani's al-Manhaj al-Mubin, Ibn al-Dayba''s Taysir al-Wusul, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's al-Durr al-Nathir, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Fath al-Bari and al-Talkhis al-Habir, al-Bayhaqi's al-Sunan al-Kubra, al-Qastallani's Irshad al-Sari, and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami's commentary on al-Tibrizi's Mishkat al-Masabih .
- Third Chapter: Cites discussions by Islamic jurists and timekeepers (muwaqqitun), with extensive textual analysis of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's statements in Ihya' Ulum al-Din . It incorporates treatises and astronomical tables by regional and classical astronomers—including Ali ibn Abd al-Rahim ibn Qadi, Umar ibn Saqqaf al-Safi, Baraja', Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Qutnah, and Radwan Efendi—to calculate the dawn duration (hissat al-fajr) in Hadramawt across different seasons .
- Concluding Section: Discusses three specific matters: the epistemological levels of determining prayer times (direct perception, report, legal reasoning, and astronomical calculation); the qualifications of an informant regarding prayer time; and the legal ruling on those who perform the morning prayer prematurely . The book concludes with the ruling that anyone in the region who deliberately advances the dawn prayer before the true dawn commits a sin and that the prayer is invalid, whether performed as an obligatory or supererogatory act .
Manuscripts and Publication
Multiple contemporary manuscript copies of the work are preserved:
- Manuscript A: From the author's private library, featuring the title page, purpose of writing, and signature written in the author's own hand .
- Manuscript B: Transcribed at the end of Jumada al-Akhira 1261 AH and containing marginal authorial corrections and validation marks .
- Manuscript C: Copied by Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Hasan al-Haddad, completed on Wednesday, 17 Jumada al-Akhira 1261 AH .
- Manuscript D: Transcribed by Ali ibn Salih ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abd Allah Sa'id ibn Ali al-Hajj alongside another treatise .
The text was edited based on these manuscript copies by Salih ibn Abd Allah Balfaqih and published in 1432 AH (2011 CE) .
Answer updated