Ithaf al-Sail bima li-Fatima min al-Manaqib wa al-Fadail
- Author died
- 1031 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Qur’ān li-l-Ṭab‘ wa-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzī‘
Ithaf al-Sail bima li-Fatima min al-Manaqib wa al-Fadail ("Bestowing upon the Inquirer the Merits and Virtues of Fatima") is a treatise dedicated to the life, virtues, and merits of Fatima al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, commonly attributed to the Egyptian Shafi'i scholar Abd al-Rauf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH / 1622 CE) .
Authorship and Attribution
The work is widely identified under the name of Abd al-Rauf al-Munawi, though some researchers have noted that early biographical entries for al-Munawi do not list it among his writings . Bibliographical sources—such as Idah al-maknun—also record the title under the works of Muhammad Hijazi ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Akrawi al-Qalqashandi, known as al-Wa'iz al-Shafi'i (d. 1035 AH / 1626 CE) . In certain printings, the title appears with slight variation as Ithaf al-sail bima li-Fatima min al-manaqib, whereas the author's introduction adds wa-al-fadail .
Structure and Contents
The book is organized into five chapters (abwab) detailing the biography, characteristics, and virtues of Fatima :
- Chapter One: Covers her birth, recording the report that she was born in the 41st year from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, as well as the alternate report that she was born five years before the start of the prophetic mission .
- Chapter Two: Examines her marriage to Ali ibn Abi Talib in Ramadan of 2 AH, with Ali aged twenty-one and reports placing her age between fifteen and twenty-one . It notes that the marriage was consummated about four months after the contract, that Ali did not marry any other woman before or during her lifetime, and details her dowry—a coat of armor sold for 480 dirhams—alongside her household furnishings and her children: al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Muhassin (who died in infancy), and Umm Kulthum al-Kubra .
The text also addresses narrations and hadith reports regarding Fatima's virtues and rulings transmitted through her descendants, evaluating reports such as those transmitted through Hasan ibn al-Hasan .
Manuscripts and Printed Editions
A manuscript copy of the work is preserved in the Ahmad Taymur Pasha collection (the Taymuriyya Library) . The text has been published in multiple modern editions, including:
- An edition edited by Abd al-Latif Ashur, published by Maktabat al-Quran in Cairo (1407 AH / 1987 CE) .
- An edition edited by Ali Ahmad Abd al-Al al-Tahtawi, published by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya in Beirut (2nd ed., 1425 AH / 2004 CE) .
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