Salwat al-Kaib bi Wafat al-Habib صلى الله عليه وسلم
- Author died
- 842 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Buhuth li al-Dirasat al-Islamiyyah wa Ihya' al-Turath
Salwat al-Kaib bi Wafat al-Habib (سلوة الكئيب بوفاة الحبيب ﷺ, Consolation for the Grieving over the Death of the Beloved) is a treatise by the Syrian hadith scholar Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi (d. 842 AH / 1438 CE) focusing on the demise of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and drawing comfort and moral lessons from that event .
Theme and Content
The treatise is designed to offer solace to believers enduring affliction and bereavement by recalling the passing of the Prophet ﷺ as the greatest loss experienced by the Muslim community, presenting it as an example for cultivating patience and steadfastness .
The work opens with an introduction reflecting on the inevitability of death and the transient nature of the world, followed by poetic verses illustrating human mortality . It then chronologically traces the events surrounding the Prophet's final days:
- Foretelling of the Prophet's Death: The author discusses the scriptural signs that signaled the approach of the Prophet's demise, particularly the revelation of Surat al-Nasr and the Quranic passage الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا ("Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam as your religion"), along with ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab's discernment that the perfection of religion presaged the conclusion of the Prophet's earthly life .
- Final Acts and Illness: The text records the Prophet's frequent seeking of forgiveness (istighfar), his visit to the cemetery of al-Baqi‘ to pray for the dead, and the onset of his terminal illness in Safar of 11 AH .
- Elegies and Solace: The historical narrations and hadiths are interspersed with poetic lines and elegies (marathi) underscoring endurance and composure in the face of calamity .
Transmission and Publication
The text is also referenced at its conclusion under the title Akhbar bi Wafat al-Mukhtar (أخبار بوفاة المختار) . Manuscript copies of the work have survived, including one preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 5567) and another transcribed by Ibn Fahd al-Makki held in the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (MS Majami‘ 12/106) . Another manuscript copy was transcribed in Damascus in Safar 989 AH by 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Farfur al-Hanafi .
The work has been published in a modern printed edition by Dar al-Buhuth li al-Dirasat al-Islamiyya wa Ihya' al-Turath in Dubai .
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