Manar al-Huda fi Bayan al-Waqf wal-Ibtida wa Maahu al-Maqsad li Talkhis ma fi al-Murshid
- Author died
- 1100 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah
Manar al-Huda fi Bayan al-Waqf wal-Ibtida (The Lighthouse of Guidance in Explaining Pausing and Resuming) is a treatise on the science of Quranic pausing and starting (al-waqf wal-ibtida) by the Shafi'i jurist and Quran specialist Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Ashmuni (11th century AH / 17th century CE) . In standard printed editions, it is published alongside al-Maqsad li-Talkhis ma fi al-Murshid by the Shafi'i scholar Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 926 AH / 1520 CE) .
Subject and Structure
The work addresses where a Quranic reciter should pause and where recitation may properly be resumed, correlating pauses with the demands of Quranic commentary (tafsir), correct syntax (nahw), morphology (sarf), and semantic clarity so that the intended meaning of the text is preserved .
Al-Ashmuni prefaced the text with introductory guidelines and principles (fawa'id wa-tanbihat) to equip the reader before treating the pause marks across the Quran's chapters (surahs) in sequential order .
Accompanying Text: al-Maqsad
The accompanying treatise, al-Maqsad li-Talkhis ma fi al-Murshid, is an epitome written by Zakariyya al-Ansari summarizing al-Murshid fi al-Waqf wal-Ibtida by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sa'id al-Umani . In it, al-Ansari condensed al-Umani's material while adding indications of the revelation sites (mahall al-nuzul) of verses as well as supplementary rulings predominantly derived from Abu Amr al-Dani .
Reception and Publication History
Manar al-Huda is counted among the principal specialized references in the literature of Quranic pauses, alongside classical works such as Idah al-Waqf wal-Ibtida by Ibn al-Anbari, al-Qat' wal-I'tinaf by Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, and al-Muktafa by Abu Amr al-Dani .
When the text was published in 1934 CE by the al-Babi al-Halabi press, the publisher erroneously attributed Manar al-Huda to the earlier grammarian Abu al-Hasan Nur al-Din Ali ibn Muhammad al-Ushmuni (d. early 10th century AH) due to the scarcity of biographical notices for Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Ashmuni . Modern editions have since corrected the attribution and re-edited the text based on available copies .
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