Majmu Rasail al-Hafiz al-Alai, vol. 1
- Author died
- 761 AH
- Editions
- al-Farouq al-Hadithah li-al-Tiba'ah wa-al-Nashr
Majmu Rasail al-Hafiz al-Alai, vol. 1 (مجموع رسائل الحافظ العلائي جـ ١) is the first volume of a modern compilation of short treatises by the Shafi'i hadith scholar and jurist Salah al-Din al-Alai (694–761 AH / 1294–1359 CE), edited by Wa'il Muhammad Bakr Zahran.
Background and Purpose
Al-Alai authored dozens of works across fields such as Quranic exegesis (tafsīr), jurisprudence (fiqh), legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), and Hadith. Because many of his shorter treatises remained scattered in manuscript libraries worldwide and largely unpublished, the editor undertook the project of assembling them into a multi-volume collection, drawing motivation from similar compilations produced for the treatises of Ibn Rajab and Ibn Abd al-Hadi. The first volume was published in Cairo by Al-Faruq al-Haditha li al-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr in 1429 AH / 2008 CE.
Contents
The volume brings together nine distinct treatises spanning exegetical, theological, and legal topics:
- Juzʾ fī Dhikr Kalīm Allāh Mūsā (A Monograph on Moses, the One Addressed by God): A treatise detailing the lineage, description, and trials of the Prophet Moses, narrations transmitted through al-Alai's chains of transmission, discussions on the relative ranking of prophets, the post-mortem life of prophets, and concluding with a poem praising Moses.
- Risālah fī {Inna Ibrāhīma Kāna Ummah} (A Treatise on the verse: "Indeed, Abraham was a nation").
- Risālah fī Tafsīr {Wa Kadhalika Jaʿalnākum Ummatan Wasaṭan} (A Treatise on the Exegesis of: "And thus We have made you a just community").
- Risālah fī Tafsīr {Yā Ahla al-Kitābi Lā Taghlū fī Dīnikum} (A Treatise on the Exegesis of: "O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion").
- al-ʿUddah ʿinda al-Karb wa al-Shiddah (The Equipment in Times of Distress and Hardship).
- Taḥrīr al-Maqāl fī Taḥrīm al-Ḥalāl (Clarifying the Discourse on Prohibiting the Permissible).
- Masʾalah fī Muḍāʿafat al-Thawāb fī al-Masājid al-Thalāthah allatī Yushaddu Ilayhā al-Riḥāl (A Legal Question Regarding the Multiplied Reward in the Three Mosques to Which Journeys Are Undertaken).
- Taḥqīq Munīf al-Rutba li-man Thubita lahu Sharīf al-Ṣuḥba (Establishing the Lofty Rank for Those Whose Noble Companionship Is Confirmed).
- Rafʿ al-Ishkāl ʿan Ḥadīth Siyām al-Sitt min Shawwāl (Resolving Difficulties Concerning the Hadith on Fasting Six Days of Shawwal).
The first seven treatises were published for the first time in this collection, while the last two had been published previously.
Editorial Methodology
The editor transcribed and collated the texts against surviving manuscripts, including an autograph copy in al-Alai's own hand preserved at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya for the treatise on Moses. Editorial work included documenting Quranic verses, tracing hadith narrations to canonical reference works—such as the Sahihayn, the Sunan collections, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban, and al-Hakim al-Naysaburi—alongside scholarly judgments on authenticity, and cross-referencing legal positions and citations from classical figures such as Ibn al-Salah and Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi. The volume contains a brief biographical sketch of al-Alai, with comprehensive subject and narrator indexes planned for the concluding volume of the series.
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