This is excellent news. As part of the SunniPath classes I have been reading the Mukhtasar al-Quduri which is also a Hanafi fiqh manual (and this books predecessor). The translation is available online (which is an excellent thing), however it seems very far from the actual text in terms of organization and there is still a lot of material not translated.

I hope that this manual fills a big gap in the English speaking Muslim community, something that the Reliance of the Traveller did for many people when it was made available.

The book will be launched along with the special event w/ Shaykh Hamza “The Legacy of Abu Hanifa” on April 8th.

A Hardback book of 660 Pages, it is available (for pre-order) in kitaabun.com, a UK store, for approximately £45 (About 77 U.S. Dollars)

I’ll be monitoring for US availability.

The Hidayah represents the refined, distilled and authentic version of a legal tradition developed over many centuries. It presents the corpus of Hanafi law in its approved and preferred form and forges an organic link with the other schools of law. There is no book that can match the power of al-Hidayah as a teaching manual. Education in Islamic law is not complete without this book. Accordingly, each and every madrassah, whatever its affiliation, imparts instruction in Islamic law through al-Hidayah. The book was designed by the author in such a way that it makes a vigorous interaction between teacher and student unavoidable. Each sentence presents a challenge both to the teacher and the taught. In this process, the student acquires a deep knowledge of the issues of fiqh and the methods of reasoning employed by Islamic law. The teacher, on his part, has a unique opportunity, while using the book in the class session, to give full expression to his skills and abilities.

Shaykh al-Islam, Muhaddith and Hafiz, Abu al-Hasan Burhan al-Din ‘Ali b. Abi Bakr b. ‘Abd al Jalal al-Farghani, al-Marghinani, the great Hanafi jurist, was born at Marghian in the vicinity of Farghana in 530/1135 (in Present Day Uzbekistan) He died in 593/1197. He studied with Mufti Najm al Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Nasafi, his son Abu’l Layth Ahmad b. ‘Umar al Nasafi and other eminent teachers, and excelled in Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh and other studies. His scholarship was recognised and praised by eminent scholars such as Imam Fakhr al-Din Qadi Khan, Zahir al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Bukhari (the author of al-Fatawa al-Zahiriyyah) and others.

Excerpts from Beads of Dew:

With every breath a person breathes, a treasure is wasted and lost. It is necessary to recognize, with every breath, that Allah is Present and Watchful. When this awareness takes control, the sense of humble modesty is felt in Allah’s presence, and heedlessness departs.

–

The devil [shaitan] is twofold: concrete and abstract. The concrete devil is the one known as Iblis, while the abstract devil is the lower self [nafs]. The abstract devil does certain things the concrete devil cannot do. For instance, while the concrete devil teaches good deeds to the human being, intending to make him renounce them later, the abstract devil resorts directly to the greatest evil, using goodness as a pretext. He acknowledges the Prophetic tradition concerning the reward due to those who observe the fine practices of Allah’s Messenger, and to those who disseminate them, then he plays the trick of citing invented traditions. Satan himself is not capable of going to this length. To give another example, the concrete devil teaches the human being to recite the Quran in a loud voice, and envisages various pitfalls in this. As for the lower self, which is the abstract devil, it converts this teaching into the bad morality of the hypocrite, who makes a public show of his Quranic recitation, in his passionate desire to gain a good repuation. And so on, and so forth….

Taken from SeekersDigest.org

A brand new edition of Dalai’l al-Khayrat has been published and it seems extraordinary. This is another one of those must-have books. What a rare opportunity! Get it now from:

http://dalail.co.uk/

–
Dala’il al-Khayrat, the most celebrated manual of Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in history, was composed by the Sufi, wali, Muslim scholar of prophetic descent, and baraka of Marrakesh Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli (d. 870/1465)….

“Millions of Muslims from East to West tried it and found its good, its baraka, and its benefit for centuries and over generations, and witnessed its unbelievable spiritual blessings and light. Muslims avidly recited it, alone and in groups, in homes and mosques, utterly spending themselves in the Blessings on the Most Beloved and praising him—until Wahhabi ideas came to spread among them, suborning them and creating confused fears based on the opinions of Ibn Taymiya and the reviver of his path Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab of Najd. After this, Muslims slackened from reciting the Dala’il al-Khayrat, falling away from the Blessings upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in particular, and from the remembrance of Allah in general” (al-Mutrib fi awliya’ al-Maghrib, 143–44). Sheikh Nuh Keller

The beginning of this book does place into context much of the rest of the text, as Imam Zafar Uthmani says,

“As the object of this book [I’la’ al-Sunan] is to counter the charges of the literalists against the Hanafi scholars, we chose to close with something in reply to their accusations against Sufi scholars as well.”

The “I’la’ al-Sunan” referenced above is the work of which this is the final chapter. This translated work of that chapter, along with additional commentary and notes is 57 pages long.

The relationship of Sufism to the development of that good character is established up front. From this point onward many textual evidences and explanations of hadith which involve the development of good character are described and commented on.

Shaykh Faraz, as the translator, also takes the liberty to add commentary on these hadith from two classical jurists , Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari and Mawlana Ahmad Diya al-Din al-Kumushkhawani.

Also, over 5 pages (10%) is devoted to the notes from the translator which are properly referenced from within the text itself. The notes are very helpful in terms of understanding the text itself. One of the interesting aspects is that they hint at subtleties which only come from awareness from being trained in classical texts, such as when reading simple sentence “So, understand this.”

Shaykh Faraz notes,

“At the end of noteworthy investigations, or after making a strong argument, it is the habit of scholars to say, “So understand” [fa ‘fham]. Out of good manners, if such texts are read to scholars, it is better to read, “So let it be understood” [fa lyufham], as the student must not command the teacher.”

The text itself goes into fabulous discussions of the many positive qualities in Sufism. This is impressive since although its objective is to answer detractors, it retains the same benefit to those who not being faced with opposition to Sufism, but seeking understanding. Also this provides a nice consolidated list of some of the most relevant hadith used to develop the sciences of tassawuf. Indeed, there is much benefit to clarify one’s own understanding of spirituality and how to take these hadiths in context as a whole.

The discussion over the changing of character traits, such as anger, is really quite eye opening. The meaning of suppressing/controlling anger versus the impossible effort to eliminate it seemed something I could contemplate on for some time.

All in all a must have for everyones collection, this is one of those few books whose benefit far outweighs its thickness.

Price: $6.95 at Al-Rashad Bookstore

Thought I throw a little tip out there that I’ve learned from all my local friends.

When in New York city, and hungry, don’t forget to stop by 53rd St. and 6th Ave for the little known “Platters”. Open all week, unless I am wrong, from 7:00PM to 4:00AM (Perfect after a night of studying and Naqshibandi Dhikr)

Don’t expect a fancy restaurant, but just a small cart / grease truck type setup, typical for the city. The only thing that is untypical is the line, which is almost always half a block long. You might think you are walking by people waiting to watch a TV show taping, but you would be wrong. All these people are waiting on line for one of the most calorie rich meals you can get for $5.00 USD.

Expect to wait on line for about 20 minutes to a potential of 40+ minutes.

Funny thing is, there is no variety here. They specialize in one thing. Gyro and Chicken Platters (though some strange folks sometimes get the sandwich).

Your only two menu choices are beef and chicken.

Expect hurried service (hey, they have a long line) and curt questions (so prepare your answers to: “beef or chicken?” and “sauce?”), but a cheap and delicious meal.

Ask for both sauces, unless you can’t handle a little hot sauce. Though, if my wife can handle it, so can you.

This little operation even has their own fan-website: http://www.53rdand6th.com/

Must buy.. Translated by our very own Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. Only $6.95

http://whitethreadpress.com/sufism.htm

Sufism & Good Character
by Shaykh Imam Zafar Ahmad Uthmani
Translated by Faraz Rabbani

The Messenger Muhammad (saw) said, “On the Day of Resurrection, nothing will weigh heavier upon the Scales than good character” (Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi). The scholars of the science of Sufism explained the way to live the guidance of the beloved Messenger of Allah (saw), outwardly and inwardly, and guided people toward the perfection of good character and spiritual realization.

In this work, Imam Zafar Uthmani presents key Prophetic sayings related to good character and explains their implications for those seeking the spiritual way. To further the benefit of the book, commentary on many of the ¡adiths has been added from the classic works of Mulla Ali al-Qari and Mawlana Ahmad Diya’ al-Din al-Kumushkhanawi.

About the Author
Imam Zafar Ahmad Uthmani was one of the greatest hadith experts of the 20th Century. His 18-volume work I’la’ al-Sunan, of which this work is the final chapter, is widely regarded as one of the very best presentations of the legal reasoning and proofs of the Hanafi school of Islamic law.

Uns Fine Crafts fills a niche for those Muslims seeking to find some of the most beautiful traditional fine crafts in the world. For those of us in Western countries, Uns seems to be a way to reconnect with the experience of finding that high quality, carefully crafted item in the bazaar out in the middle of the desert. One difference though with this hypothetical bazaar and Uns is that while both may have carefully crafted products, Uns has added the novel concept of using very unique and exotic materials which one would be unlikely to find elsewhere.

In fact, rarity seems to be their speciality, as they are using very exotic hardwoods for the misbaha’s they sell which include the most rarist woods in the world.

I just received the Cocobolo Beads (precisely named: Cocobolo - 10mm Premium Grade misbaha) which are listed on http://www.unsfinecrafts.com/ as “Coming Soon”, so I’ll be writing about this one today. Soon I will be able to review the snakewood misbaha which seems to be the ultimate in rarity and uniquness. A link to their product sheet for this Cocobolo mishaba is here.

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I’m not sure when they will be publicly available (I sort of received these by accident) but I thought I would do my review of this fine product with some detailed pictures.

First thing is first, for some very expensive wood the packaging from Caravan Saray was a bit muted (maybe that is a good thing). A simple yellow packing paper with bubble wrap inside is what the beautiful exotic wood arrives in. So, if you are looking to surprise your significant other with a beautiful expensive misbaha, make sure you have some sort of nice box.

Next is the wood, and from cobobolo.net we discover that:
“Cocobolo is so rare, that very little of it reaches the world market. With respect to the environment, the government of Costa Rica requires that a permit be issued in order to cut down a Cocobolo tree. Most of the cocobolo available today is not cut from the natural rainforest, but rather from privately owned finca’s on which cocobolo trees were planted 80 to 100 years ago. ”

Amazing! On top of that there are a variety of grades of the wood, and while imperfections exist in most woods (ugly knots, insect holes, etc), the beads of a misbaha are so small that if such an imperfection exists in the material it must make it useless for the production of the bead. So it seems we are getting the best of the best here. The wood is one of the most dense as well, and that means that it will be difficult to damage this Uns misbaha, whereas on my previous wood misbahahs nail marks and such are easily noticable. There are some literally tiny marks in some of the beads, which Uns demonstrates on the website, but this only adds to the rustic and traditional nature of these beads.

Cocobolo has deep grains which are generally all horizontally throughout the beads. If presented properly a very long line can be made with the beads. Care seems to have been taken to ensure that there are no beads having a vertical grain next to beads with a horizontal grain.

It is very light brown/ orange in the areas where the grain line is furthest away, and in some places this area reflects light almost translucently, somewhat like marble! I began to wonder if it was wood at all, it is such a marvelous effect that it feels at times you are looking through the beads somewhat. Another way to describe it would be a glowing effect. Each of the beads shine with a bright luster. I have found out directly from Ibrahim, the owner of Uns Fine Crafts that each of these beads is buffed, bead by bead.

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In some places the grain becomes wavy, and these are some of the most beautiful beads in the chain.

There are flat markers at the 11 count on both the left and right side of the chain, afterwards there are only the larger 33 count markers.

The end is marked with a long one-piece of wood, which is a great way to see the grain.

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The end of the misbaha has a 5 small beads, spread apart an inch or so, ending with a larger version of the 33 marker beads.

Lets move onto the details of the line the beads are on as well as its use. The ’string’ (not a good word for it), is brown and somewhat shiny golden when light hits it. The line at the end of the misbaha is much thicker than what the majority of the beads are on. It seems that is a result of intertwining the main string to itself. This creates a type of ‘twirl’ effect which is pleasant.

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There is about an inch of slack in the beads, which is great for its use. There is an interesting choice here that Uns must have had to make. If they were to make it too loose then it might feel flimsy, on the other hand if they make it too hard to move, well then its just useless.

Uns has chosen a nice balance between the two.

The beads in this misbaha are quick to move individually with ones thumb, but they have -very slight- resistance, so it adds up with 99 beads and the markers. This added-up resistance means that the beads do not move as a whole that easily. One of the drawbacks of the level resistance is that with 99 beads, the inch of slack can get distributed when being carried around in your pocket for some time, and then to create the slack at the beginning may require using extra force or the 10 bead at a time method.

These beautiful beads sell for $240 U.S. Dollars, worth every penny!

Final words:

One should keep in mind the rarity of the wood and the care involved in making the beads when ordering from Uns. Reflecting on the fact that you have in your hands one of Allah’s rarist natural treasures on earth is a great motivator for -more- tasbih, especially when you are literally counting your blessings on it.

So in conclusion, this is a very beautiful and unique misbaha, and anyone who appreciates dark wood furniture and dark wood grains will especially love it. The beautiful wood grain and almost marbelized nature of the wood is pretty astounding. There is obvious care taken in the crafting of the misbaha.

I hope this review is helpful for those looking to purchase one of Uns Fine Crafts goods! You won’t be dissappointed.