Wasa'il al-Wusul ila Shama'il al-Rasul
- Author died
- 1350 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Minhāj
Wasa'il al-Wusul ila Shama'il al-Rasul (Means of Attaining the Character of the Messenger) is a compendium on the physical descriptions, moral character, and habits (shama'il) of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by the Palestinian judge and scholar Yusuf al-Nabhani (1265–1350 AH / 1849–1932 CE) .
Sources and Method
In his introduction, al-Nabhani stated that he gathered the work from the traditions and reports regarding the prophetic attributes . He incorporated all the narrations collected by al-Tirmidhi in his Kitab al-Shama'il, omitting repeated reports and chains of transmission (isnads), while reorganizing them into a new thematic arrangement rather than adhering to al-Tirmidhi's chapter order . He substantially expanded upon al-Tirmidhi's material by drawing from ten primary classical works:
- Kitab al-Shama'il by al-Tirmidhi
- Masabih al-Sunna by al-Baghawi
- Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
- Al-Shifa by Qadi 'Iyad
- Tahdhib al-Asma' wa-l-Lughat by al-Nawawi
- Zad al-Ma'ad fi Hady Khayr al-'Ibad by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
- Al-Jami' al-Saghir by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
- Al-Siraj al-Munir, the commentary on al-Jami' al-Saghir by al-'Azizi
- Al-Mawahib al-Ladduniyya by al-Qastallani
- Kashf al-Ghumma 'an Jami' al-Umma by Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani
Al-Nabhani provided glosses and vocalizations for rare and difficult expressions (gharib al-alfaz) throughout the text . In an appendix (dhayl) to the book, he documented his own chains of authorization (asanid) for al-Tirmidhi's Shama'il and the Six Books of Hadith, transmitting them primarily through the Egyptian Shafi'i scholar Ibrahim al-Saqqa (who narrated from Shaykh Thu'aylab, from Ahmad al-Mallawi and Ahmad al-Jawhari, from 'Abd Allah ibn Salim al-Basri), as well as through Mahmud Hamza, the Mufti of Damascus, and Muhammad Shams al-Din al-Anbabi, the Shaykh of al-Azhar .
Structure and Contents
The work opens with an author's preface and an introduction containing two preliminary notes (tanbihan): the first on the linguistic and technical meaning of the term al-shama'il, and the second on the benefits intended from compiling the prophetic traits . The main text is organized into thematic chapters (abwab), each divided into several sections (fusal):
- Chapter 1: On his noble lineage and honorable names, divided into two sections .
- Chapter 2: On his physical appearance and related traits, comprising ten sections covering the beauty of his form, his eyesight and use of kohl, his hair and dyeing, his sweat and natural fragrance, his perfume, his voice, his anger and joy, his laughter, weeping, and sneezing, his speech and silence, and his physical strength .
- Chapter 3: On his clothing, bedding, and weapons, comprising six sections .
- Chapter 4: On his eating and food manners, followed by subsequent chapters covering his other personal habits, worship, and social interactions .
Commentary and Reception
The Shafi'i scholar 'Abd Allah ibn Sa'id al-Lahji (d. 1410 AH) wrote an extensive four-volume commentary on the work entitled Muntaha al-Sul 'ala Wasa'il al-Wusul ila Shama'il al-Rasul . Al-Lahji spent twenty-five years composing his commentary, finishing its fair copy in Muharram 1395 AH; he provided grammatical and lexical explanations, expanded on the discussions, and verified the hadith narrations (takhrij) . Al-Lahji had studied the opening portions of al-Nabhani's text under the Algerian-Meccan scholar Muhammad al-'Arabi al-Tabbani, who held a general license (ijaza 'amma) to transmit all of al-Nabhani's works .
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