Light in the Heavens

Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad

al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī, Tahera Qutbuddin, al-Qadi al-Quda'i, Tahera Qutbuddin

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781479871469
• eBook ISBN: 9781479867851
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, wielding an authority second only to the Qur'an.

The words of Muhammad (d. 11/632), God's messenger and prophet of Islam, have a special place in the hearts of his followers. Wielding an authority second only to the Qur'an, Muhammad's hadith are cited by scholars as testimonial texts in a vast array of disciplines—including law, theology, metaphysics, poetry, grammar, history, and medicine—and are quoted by Muslims to one another in their daily lives.

Assembling Muhammad's words has been a major preoccupation for scholars throughout the fourteen centuries since his death, resulting in an abundance of compilations. Among the legally-grounded collections, which aimed to guide the community in its practice of religious law and ritual worship, one which stands out in particular is Light in the Heavens (Kitab al-Shihab) by al-Qadi al-Quda'i, a Shafi'i judge in the Fatimid court in Egypt. The collection's overall conceptualization is distinctively ethical and pragmatic, and offers humanitarian lessons and practical insights with universal appeal.

From North Africa to India, generations have used Light in the Heavens as a teaching text for children as well as adults, and many of its 1200 sayings are familiar to individuals of diverse denominations and ethnicities. For Muslims—who consider Muhammad's teachings the fount of wisdom and the beacon of guidance in all things, mundane and sublime—these sayings provide a direct window into the inspired vision of one of the most influential humans to have walked the Earth.

A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Index

abasement, §14.5

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās, 187n125

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, xiv

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, xiv

ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, xiv, §2.110, 181n55

ablution(s), §1.225, §3.12, §4.22, 183n79, 183n81. See also cleansing

Abraham (Ibrāhīm), xiv–xv, 185n102

absence, absent, xxxiii, §1.77, §2.99, §9.72, 186n117

Abū Bakr, xv

Abū Dāʾūd, xviii, xxii

Abū Hirr. See Abū Hurayrah

Abū Hurayrah, 182n66

Abū Lahab, xvi

Abū l-Saʿādāt, xxv

Abū Ṭālib, xiv, xvi

abundance, xiii–xiv, xli, §4.49

acceptance, §0.4, §7.87, 181n60

accommodating, §7.9, §§9.5–6

accountability, xv, §1.161

accumulation, §6.88

action, xv, xxiii, §3.38, §4.48, §6.44, §6.76, §6.86, 180n48, 182n72

acts, xxiii–xxiv, §1.1, §1.80, §2.75, §2.108, §2.110, §3.39, §4.48, §4.86, §§4.116–117, §9.29, 182n72, 183n83

ʿĀd, §3.5, 181n58

Adam (Ādam), xv; sons of, §1.238, §§3.40–41

adequate, §9.2, §9.25

adornment, §5.15, §16.10

adulation, §6.32

adultery, adulterer, §1.219, 179n42, 183n83

adversity, §7.71

advice, xvii, xx–xxiv, xxxviii, §0.3, §1.3, §1.10, §2.134, §3.34, §4.84, §4.104, §5.5, §5.25, §6.84, §9.59, §13.2, 187n125

advisor, §1.125, §5.25

affability, §1.153

affairs, xvii, §4.70, §4.79, §13.7

affection, xxiv, §1.21, §4.5, §4.29, §§4.35–36, §4.49, §5.30...

Table of contents

• Letter from the General Editor
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• A Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• Light in the Heavens
• Notes
• Glossary of Names and Terms
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• About this E-book
• Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature
• About the Editor–Translator