Mawsuat al-Amaal al-Kamila lil-Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn
- Author died
- 1378 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Nawādir
Mawsuat al-Amaal al-Kamila lil-Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn (Encyclopedia of the Complete Works of Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn) is a multi-volume scholarly collection compiling the published books, treatises, essays, lectures, travels, correspondences, and posthumous studies of the former Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn (1293–1377 AH / 1876–1958 CE) .
Compilation and Background
The works and intellectual heritage of Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn had originally remained dispersed across periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, and independent treatises published throughout Tunisia, Syria, and Egypt . The project of gathering, editing, and systematically organizing his complete oeuvre was undertaken over a span of more than two decades by his nephew, the Syrian lawyer Ali al-Rida al-Husayni .
To assemble the encyclopedia, the editor drew from personal archives, surviving manuscripts, and the twenty-four published volumes of the Cairo-based monthly journal al-Hidayah al-Islamiyyah, which Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn had founded and edited for over two decades starting in 1347 AH . Additional material was sourced from family records held in Damascus and Tunisia, as well as documents and letters preserved by scholarly acquaintances and their families, including the descendants of Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur and the family of al-Nayfar .
Contents and Structure
The encyclopedia arranges Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn's legacy into thematic volumes and titled works, restructuring miscellaneous articles into coherent monographs :
- Quranic and Exegetical Studies: Includes Asrar al-tanzil, compiling the author's Quranic commentaries on Surah al-Fatihah and selected verses from Surahs al-Baqarah, Al Imran, al-Anfal, Yunus, al-Hajj, and Sad; and Balaghat al-Quran, which covers the literary inimitability of the Quran, translation of its meanings, parables, clear and ambiguous verses, and rejoinders to contemporary heterodox interpretations .
- Prophetic Biography and Islamic Thought: Features Muhammad Rasul Allah wa-Khatam al-Nabiyyin, treating pre-Islamic Arab religions, the Hijrah, the Prophet's character and statecraft, and related discourses .
- Social Reform and Jurisprudence: Brings together Muhadarat Islamiyyah and the reformist treatises of Rasail al-islah, alongside works asserting the applicability of Islamic law, such as al-Shariah al-Islamiyyah saliha li-kulli zaman wa-makan, al-Dawah ila al-islah, and polemical treatises like al-Qadiyaniyyah wa-al-Bahaiyyah .
- Polemics and Critical Rebuttals: Preserves the author's refutations of contemporary controversial works, such as Naqd kitab Fi al-shir al-jahili (refuting Taha Husayn) and Naqd kitab al-Islam wa-usul al-hukm (refuting Ali Abd al-Raziq) .
- Journalism and Institutional History: Collects the full corpus of his Tunisian journal al-Saadah al-uzma, his writings on al-Zaytuna Mosque (Tunis wa-Jami al-Zaytuna), and his speeches and lectures associated with al-Azhar (Ahadith fi rihab al-Azhar) .
- Memoirs, Travelogues, and Letters: Contains the author's travel accounts across Damascus, Istanbul, Berlin, and the Hijaz (al-Rihlat), as well as his personal correspondence and notes (Rasail al-Khidr) .
- Biographical and Critical Studies: The concluding parts of the encyclopedia incorporate comprehensive documentary and academic studies about the author, including al-Irth al-fikri lil-Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn, Kitabat hawl al-Imam, al-Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn bi-aqlam nukhba min ahl al-fikr (an anthology of essays by scholars from Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, and Algeria), conference proceedings from Algeria (Multaqa al-Imam Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn fi al-Jazair), and studies on his reformist role in Tunisia .
Publication
The complete encyclopedia was published in its first edition in 1431 AH / 2010 CE by Dar al-Nawadir (operating in Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait), under the general directorship of Nur al-Din Talib, whose editorial preface was concluded in Damascus in Rabi al-Awwal 1431 AH .
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