Nuzhat al-Afkar fi Sharh Qurrat al-Absar
- Author died
- 1337 AH
- Editions
- al-Sayyid al-Fadil al-Sharif A'zizi ibn al-Mami al-Siba'i
Nuzhat al-Afkar fi Sharh Qurrat al-Absar (The Promenade of Thoughts in Commenting on The Delight of the Eyes) is a two-volume commentary on the prophetic biography by the Mauritanian Maliki and Ash'ari scholar Abd al-Qadir al-Majlisi (d. 1337 AH / 1918–1919 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The book is an extensive commentary on Qurrat al-Absar fi Sirat al-Nabi al-Mukhtar, a didactic poem on the life of the Prophet Muhammad composed by the Maliki and Ash'ari scholar Abd al-Aziz al-Lamati . Al-Majlisi noted that although al-Lamati's poem was widely circulated and memorized by both young and old in his region, it lacked a local commentary to untangle its expressions, elucidate its obscure passages, and reveal its insights . Consequently, he composed this work to clarify its terminology for students and provide detailed coverage of the Prophet's military campaigns (ghazawat) and dispatched detachments (saraya) .
In his introduction, al-Majlisi records the lineage of the poem's author, noting that al-Lamati was resident in Medina, where an earlier anonymous commentator reported that he composed the poem in the chamber of A'isha .
Sources and Structure
In compiling his commentary, al-Majlisi relied on several core biographical and hadith references, explicitly stating his reliance on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Baqi al-Zurqani and his commentaries, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi's Alfiyyah on the sirah along with al-Munawi's commentary on it, and Ibn Sayyid al-Nas's Uyun al-Athar .
The commentary is divided into two volumes; the first part concludes with the account of the detachment of Zayd ibn Harithah sent to Umm Qirfah . The printed edition of the text was verified and corrected by a group of the author's relatives .
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