Taliq Latif ala Akhir Hadith fi Riyad al-Salihin
- Author died
- 1284 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
Ta'liq Latif 'ala Akhir Hadith fi Riyad al-Salihin (A Fine Commentary on the Last Hadith in Riyad al-Salihin) is a short hadith commentary by the Damascene scholar Qasim ibn Salih al-Qasimi (1221–1284 AH / 1806–1867 CE), dedicated to explaining the final narration in al-Nawawi's hadith collection Riyad al-Salihin.
Background and Composition
The treatise originated during a public teaching circle conducted by Qasim al-Qasimi in Damascus. After he had taught Riyad al-Salihin in the al-Sibaiyyah Mosque, his teacher Abd al-Rahman al-Kuzbari requested that the concluding session (khatm) be moved to the larger al-Sinaniyyah Mosque so that the scholars of Damascus could attend and honor him. During this gathering in 1256 AH (1840 CE), which drew a crowded assembly of local scholars, al-Qasimi delivered a dedicated commentary on the closing hadith of the book, which he subsequently committed to writing in this monograph.
Content and Method
The work focuses on the closing narration of Riyad al-Salihin, transmitted on the authority of the Companion Suhayb ibn Sinan regarding the entry of the believers into Paradise and the ultimate reward of beholding the countenance of God. Al-Qasimi structures the treatise as follows:
- Biography of the narrator: He opens with an account of Suhayb ibn Sinan's lineage, his early life among the Byzantines, his arrival in Mecca, his conversion to Islam, his virtues, and his death in 38 AH (or reportedly 39 AH), drawing from sources such as Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's al-Isabah.
- Linguistic and grammatical analysis: He parses key phrases of the hadith, explaining their syntactic functions and lexical derivations.
- Theological exposition: He expounds the creedal stance of Ahl al-Sunnah concerning the afterlife, emphasizing that entry into Paradise and divine reward stem purely from God's grace and bounty rather than an intrinsic obligation on God generated by human deeds, in explicit contrast to the Mu'tazilah.
- Description of Paradise: He details the eternal pleasures and dwellings of the righteous through supporting prophetic traditions and Quranic citations, culminating in the beatific vision of God (ru'yat Allah) as the supreme honor granted to the people of Paradise.
Manuscripts and Publication
The work survived in an autograph manuscript comprising six folios (30 lines per page), preserved in the Qasimi Library in Damascus. It bears a marginal endorsement written by the author's grandson, the Damascene scholar Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, documenting the history of the gathering in 1256 AH. The text was edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi and published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut in 1420 AH / 1999 CE.
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