Unmudhaj al-Labib fi Khasa'is al-Habib
- Author died
- 911 AH
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- Unmudhaj al-Labib fi Khasa'is al-Habib
Unmudhaj al-Labib fi Khasa'is al-Habib (The Intelligent Person's Exemplar on the Distinctive Characteristics of the Beloved) is a treatise on the exclusive traits and virtues of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, authored by the Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) .
Composition and Context
Al-Suyuti composed the work as a concise summary of his comprehensive two-volume compendium on prophetic miracles and distinctions, titled Kifayat al-Labib fi Khasa'is al-Habib (also known as al-Khasa'is al-Kubra) . He noted that his compilation efforts began while writing his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari in the 870s AH, after which he spent twenty years gathering material scattered across Quranic exegesis, hadith literature and commentaries, jurisprudence, legal theory, and Sufism . In Unmudhaj al-Labib, he stripped away the extensive chains of transmission and evidentiary discussions to present the individual characteristics in a succinct, categorized list .
During al-Suyuti's lifetime, a contemporary claimed authorship of the treatise for himself, prompting al-Suyuti to write a polemical epistle in response titled al-Fariq bayna al-musannif wa-l-sariq ("The Distinguisher between the Author and the Plagiarist") . Al-Suyuti observed that the book had circulated widely across the Islamic East and West .
Structure and Contents
The book gathers more than one thousand distinct characteristics (khasa'is) and is divided into two primary parts (bab or qism), each further subdivided into four categories (anwa'):
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Characteristics Distinguishing Him from Other Prophets:
- Characteristics specific to his person in the earthly life, such as his priority in creation, being sent to all mankind and spirits, and various exclusive miracles .
- Characteristics specific to his religious law and his community (ummah) in this worldly life .
- Characteristics specific to his person in the hereafter, including his station of intercession and divine honors .
- Characteristics specific to his community in the hereafter .
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Characteristics Distinguishing Him from His Community:
- Legal obligations mandated exclusively upon him and not his followers .
- Acts prohibited exclusively to him .
- Matters made exclusively permissible for him .
- Special honors, miracles, and divine dignities granted uniquely to him .
Abridgments and Commentaries
Unmudhaj al-Labib served as a standard reference in subsequent literature on prophetic distinctions:
- Abridgment: It was further summarized by the Sufi scholar Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (d. 972 AH) .
- Commentaries: Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH) composed two commentaries upon it: a concise commentary titled Fath al-Ra'uf al-Mujib and an extensive single-volume commentary titled Tawdih Fath al-Ra'uf al-Mujib .
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