Juz fi Tafsir al-Baqiyat al-Salihat
- Author died
- 761 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Īmān
Juz' fi Tafsir al-Baqiyat al-Salihat (A Monograph on the Exegesis of the Enduring Righteous Deeds) is a specialized hadith and exegetical treatise by the Shafi'i traditionist Salah al-Din al-Alai (d. 761 AH / 1359 CE) dedicated to interpreting the Quranic phrase al-baqiyat al-salihat ("the enduring righteous deeds") in Surah al-Kahf and Surah Maryam .
Context and Exegetical Debate
Al-Alai opens the work by addressing the verse: الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا ("Wealth and children are the adornment of this worldly life, but the enduring righteous deeds are better in your Lord's sight for reward and better for hope") [al-Kahf: 46] . He discusses the occasion of revelation (sabab al-nuzul), evaluating the claim that it was revealed regarding tribal chiefs such as Uyaynah ibn Hisn and al-Aqra ibn Habis who demanded that poor Companions like Bilal ibn Rabah, Suhayb al-Rumi, and Salman al-Farsi be dismissed from the Prophet's assembly . Noting the consensus that Surah al-Kahf is a Meccan surah whereas Uyaynah and al-Aqra' came to the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, al-Alai argues that the passage was instead revealed regarding the Meccan polytheists who objected to the poor believers, though its structural harmony (munasabah) with the preceding verses remains consistent under either view .
After parsing the grammatical aspects of the verse, al-Alai categorizes the recorded scholarly opinions on the meaning of al-baqiyat al-salihat into four main positions :
- The five obligatory prayers, reported from Abdullah ibn Abbas, Amr ibn Shurahbil, Ibrahim al-Nakhai, Abu Maysarah, Masruq ibn al-Ajda, and Ibn Abi Mulaykah .
- The specific words of remembrance: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ (Subhan Allah, al-hamdu lillah, la ilaha illa Allah, Allahu akbar), held by Uthman ibn Affan, Ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar, Said ibn al-Musayyab, Mujahid ibn Jabr, al-Hasan al-Basri, Qatadah ibn Diamah, and the majority of exegetes .
- Wholesome speech (al-kalam al-tayyib), also attributed to Ibn Abbas, which subsumes the four phrases as well as Quranic recitation and other invocations .
- All righteous actions in word and deed, narrated from Ibn Abbas and preferred by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and Ibn Atiyyah on the principle of retaining broad general meaning .
Method and Arguments
Al-Alai favors the second opinion, establishing it through authentic prophetic hadiths that explicitly define the phrase, notably the narration of Abu Hurayrah in which the Prophet ﷺ instructed the Companions to take their protection against the Fire by repeating the four phrases: فَإِنَّهَا تَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مُنْجِيَاتٍ وَمُقَدَّمَاتٍ وَهُنَّ الْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ ("for they will come on the Day of Resurrection as saviors and vanguards, and they are the enduring righteous deeds") . He examines the narration of Abu Said al-Khudri where the Prophet ﷺ said: اسْتَكْثِرُوا مِنَ الْبَاقِيَاتِ الصَّالِحَاتِ ("Be frequent in reciting the enduring righteous deeds"), identified therein as takbir, tahlil, tasbih, tahmid, and la hawla wa-la quwwata illa billah .
Al-Alai engages critically with alternative views:
- He responds to al-Tabari's argument that the hadith only indicates these phrases belong to al-baqiyat al-salihat without excluding other deeds, countering through Arabic grammar that the construct of the subject and definite predicate implies semantic restriction (hasr) .
- He evaluates the competing chains of transmission attributed to Ibn Abbas, concluding that the most authentic chain is that of Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Sulayman from Ata ibn Abi Rabah, which corresponds to the four phrases, while critiquing the weakness of transmissions through Ata al-Khurasani and the disconnected (mursal) nature of the chain of Ali ibn Abi Talhah .
- He conducts hadith criticism on various narrators in the isnads, such as Muhammad ibn Ajlan and Darraj Abu al-Samh, assessing their validity in supporting narrations (mutaba'at and shawahid) .
Theological Rationale and Structure
The treatise features personal isnads tracing hadiths back through al-Alai's teachers to standard collections such as Sunan al-Nasa'i (Amal al-Yawm wa-al-Laylah), Sahih Muslim, and Sunan al-Tirmidhi . It includes chapters documenting the recorded merits of the four phrases: their status as the most beloved words to God, their surpassing worldly treasures, their heavy weight in the scales, and their being the planting of Paradise as related during the Ascension (al-Isra wa-al-Miraj) .
Al-Alai includes a special theological section citing Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam on the secret behind the preeminence of these four phrases, demonstrating that all of God's Divine Names are subsumed within them:
- Subhan Allah signifies negation of defects and deficiencies (al-salb), encompassing names like al-Quddus and al-Salam .
- Al-Hamdu lillah affirms all dimensions of essential and attribute-based perfections (al-ithbat), encompassing names like al-Alim, al-Qadir, al-Sami', and al-Basir .
- Allahu akbar encompasses transcendent majesty that surpasses human grasp .
- La ilaha illa Allah confirms Divine uniqueness by negating any counterpart or peer, encompassing names like al-Wahid and al-Ahad .
The text closes with a discussion on the addition of al-hawqalah ( لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله ), explaining it as an expression of complete reliance on Divine power and will, and adducing narrations indicating that these phrases suffice in prayer for someone unable to memorize the Quran .
Modern Editions
The work has been published in modern printed editions, including:
- An edition edited by Badr al-Zaman Muhammad Shafi' al-Nibali, published by Maktabat al-Iman in Medina and Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut (1407 AH / 1987 CE) .
- An edition titled Juz' fi Tafsir al-Baqiyat al-Salihat wa-Fadliha, edited by Ali Abu Zayd and Hasan Isma'il Mazwah and reviewed by Abd al-Qadir al-Arna'ut, published by Dar Ibn Kathir in Damascus (1987 CE) .
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