Tamma bi-Fadlillah

It was the 19th of December 2004 in my house when we began reading from Sh. Sa’adi’s Manhaj as-Saalikeen, a basic text in fiqh. It was a small group of brothers numbering approximately ten. Thereafter we moved the class to the local community centre and continued the lessons from there. The numbers increased to approximately 20 and continued like that until we reached the end of the section of ibaadaat. We also ended up using another brother’s house temporarily due to certain circumstances.

Since I felt the brothers needed to go through the section again I decided to redo the section of worship again and again but continued to go through the section of transactions with a smaller & more dedicated group of brothers privately in another brother’s house.

And after many years of these classes, we have by the grace of Allah (swt) completed the entire text of Manhaj as-Salikeen. Wal Hamdulillah. It took us in total 92 lessons (lasting approximately 90 minutes each) starting on the 19/12/2004 (8th of Dhul Qa’dah 1425) and finishing on the 20th of July 2009, 4:30pm (29th of Sha’baan 1430), the eve of the blessed month of Ramadhan. By the Qadr of Allah (swt) and without us even realising, the date I started to teach this book was the very same date that I began to study the very same book a year before in Egypt! i.e. 19/12/2003. It is also interesting to note that it took Sheikh Ibn Jibreen 3 weeks (intensively) to explain the entire book! (23 tapes of 90mins) That is what I call barakah! These lectures were later transcribed into the book: Ibhaaj al Mu’mineen (available in two volumes [published by Dar al Watan])

Experience & tadarruj.

No doubt the text of Manhaj is a simple one, devoid of the intricate masaa’il of more advanced texts such as Zaad & Daleel at-Taalib, however it is not to be belittled. At times I have come across people looking down at this text stating it is too simple yet I would wonder whether such people had a sound understanding of all the masaa’il mentioned within the text. This highlights a problem I see amongst many of the talabah; a lack of patience and no sense of tadarruj. Tadarruj is the gradual process of climbing the ladder of knowledge by mastering each step. Sheikh Haitham would always advise us not to simpler master one book and then move a lever higher, rather one should master other books on the same level before moving on to the next level. Hence, a taalib ul ‘ilm should never belittle any text however ‘simple’ it may be. Rather he should approach each text with haybah (veneration) and humble himself in front of it, realising that at one stage in his life, he had no understanding of that text. Imam ash-Shaafi’I used to say: “The more knowledge I gain, the more I realise how ignorant I am.” Yes, this is the effect of knowledge; it only humbles a person even more and makes a student lower his head in humility. Allah says: “And you have not been given of knowledge except a little.” (al Isra’:85).

Teaching is a great way to retain and preserve knowledge. Moreover, it is one of the essential facets of truly benefitting from knowledge as was outlined by Ibn al Qayyim in many of his works. I found myself resorting to more detailed books when explaining Manhaj, in particular Sheikh Uthaimeen’s ash-Sharh al Mumti’. I don’t think I have benefitted from any book like I have from ash-Sharh al Mumti’, a true masterpiece it is. I have also learnt that if one wants to teach a particular level, he has to be well grounded in the next level up since to elucidate on a fiqhi mas’alah requires depth, and ability to apply the mas’alah in various circumstances which requires a deeper understanding of the basic elements of the mas’alah which can only be gained through further studies/reading. Studying Manaar as-Sabeel & the Hashiyah of Rawdh al Murbi’ in fiqh with Sh Haitham really made me realise the importance of the last point, which he constantly refers to as the tasawwur (conception) of the mas’alah. Coming to think of it, I can honestly say that the Sheikh has developed a science of conceptualising fiqh (!): fiqhut-tasawwur al fiqh!! Those who have studied in depth fiqh with the Sheikh will know what I mean.

I have decided to put a recording up of our last lesson, which lasted relatively quickly as there were only a few masaa’il that needed to be covered. The chapters of Qismah & Iqraar were covered:



The following is a brief account of the text: Manhaj as-Salikeen:

In a letter penned by Sheikh Sa’adi to Sheikh Ibn ‘Aqeel in 1360 (i.e. 70 years ago), he says regarding manhaj:

“We have condensed it to such an extent that it has become shorter than all the other mukhtasaraat (abridged texts) that you are all aware of: (such as) the mukhtasar of al Muqni (i.e. Zaad al Mustaqni), al ‘Umdah & Akhsar al Mukhtasaraat. Hence it is smaller than all the aforementioned texts. It has been made concise such that it covers the major issues in each chapter. Moreover it is very clear and easy to understand and mentions the evidences (in certain places)…” In fact you will find that the author mentions the major proofs for each chapter based upon narrations from agreed upon sources. This approach is somewhat different from other basic texts since they are usually are void of evidences since they are usually mentioned in more detailed texts.

Sheikh Ibn ‘Aqeel also mentions in his introduction to the book that he (as-Sa’adi): “confined himself to mentioning the issues that occur often amongst people…” thus omitting the masaa’il that rarely occur.

In terms of the mathhab of the book, Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdur Rahman al Bassam says: “…Thus, our Sheikh authored this beneficial concise text conforming to one opinion of the mathhab (hanbali); whether that was the well known view of the mathhab or conforming with one of the other views of the mathhab…” There is also no doubt that the Sheikh was also inclined to many of the views of Sheikh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rh).

Best Prints Available:

There is no doubt that the best print available is the Ibn al Jawzi print, which was edited by Muhammad al Khudayr who conveniently broke down the book into masaa’il and numbered each mas’alah (the total number of masaa’il were 679 whereas in zaad there are approximately 3000 masaa’il as stated by Sh Bakr Abu Zayd [rh] in his madkhal).

There is also a decent print by Adwaa as-Salaf.

In terms of commentaries, then I am only aware of two: Ibhaaj al Mu’mineen by Sh. Ibn Jibreen which was published in two volumes as well as another brief commentary by Sulaimam al Qusayyir which was published by kunuz ishbeeliyaa, Saudi.

As for available translations of the text, then insha’allah one will be published soon. Al Maimaar publications have expressed their intentions to release onto the market soon although its been a while since that has been stated. My personal translation was given to another brother who was meant to publish it alongside a commentary but I had still not heard any major developments regarding that.

Well, that’s all for now folks.

I ask Allah (swt) to rectify our intentions, save us from the pitfall of ostentation and grant us the ability to be amongst the righteous. Ameen.


Abu Qutaybah.