Ar-Raheeq-Al-Makhtum
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 1:57 pm
So finally I got my copy of Ar-Raheeq-Al-Makhtoom today. This book was awarded first by world muslim league and considered the most authoritative and most comprehensive biography of Prophet Muhammad( S.A.W) which has covered micro details which you will not find in any other book. The book was written in Arabic by Shaikh Safiur Rahman Mobarak puri and translted in several languages later and published world wide. In English it is available in title The Sealed Nector.
I recently came to know about this book via my colleague who brought a copy of it at work place. After knowing the details about it I got interested to have my own copy and Alhamdolillah I finally got it today. The book is available in Urdu as well and one can get it from Urdu Bazar or any other book store in Rs.300.
The book is an example of expressing love towards the Prophet(S.A.W). I persnoally have not read it but since it’s very famous book(as I know now), I am sure this would definitely a classic and sweet journey for me which I will be starting from tonight InshaAllah.
Share your experience about this book!
on November 17th, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Thanks for introducing this book to your readers. I am interested to learn how it is that this biography of the Prophet (pbuh) carries ‘micro details’ that previous biographies do not. What are the sources for these details? How come the earliest biographers didn’t have access to these sources? When was this book first published?
I would also like to recommend the following biography to you, “Hayat-e-Rusool-e-Ummi” by Khalid Masood sb (http://www.dar-ut-tazkeer.com/Book.aspx?id=3). The significance of this work is that it draws the biography of our dearest from the Qur’an itself, so the contents are quite authoritative and can be checked for validity.
on November 17th, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Saadia , once I read this book I will be able to say something(though I am not a scholar).
Actually the book is the outcome of a global contest and there were few conditions of that contest:
1)the thesis should be unique and never written before.
2)cover every event with details(locality ,date etc ).
How come the earliest biographers didn’t have access to these sources?
I don’t think so that would be the reason. Most prolly people of past didn’t think about gathering everything in a form of single book.(Allah knows the best).
When was this book first published
Last century. Don’t know details. you can check on Internet or on the link I have provided.
Thanks for suggestion of another book. Jazak Allahu khiaran. And thanks for dropping by.
on November 18th, 2008 at 5:36 AM
good job picking up this great source of the seerah. i’m currently reading this book (the english translation) and absolutely love it.
on November 18th, 2008 at 2:34 PM
great Umair!
so how is your journey going on?
on November 19th, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Well, i have read this book and the perception is not true that it contains details which no other book had before. Its greatness stems from author’s beautiful writing style and a careful selection of traditions which were deemed authentic by the able author.
But even then we cannot claim thats there in the sirah literature has been piled up. Its target audience are lay people and not the scholars so quite reasonably it doesn’t try to deal in erudite issues.
on November 20th, 2008 at 3:09 AM
Salamalaikum
Saadia has raised a good question as to way this book has micro details on the seerah and not the earlier books. This would indicate that somehow either the info presented is inauthentic or that the scholars for 1400 years missed the micro details. If sister Saadia doesn’t come back to this comment section inshaAllah then br. Adnan can email her about this reponse so that there is confusion (if she provided the write email address)
The answer is that this book is opposite of “comprehensive”. Once br. Adnan reads the book he would realize that he is mistaken in saying that it is comprehensive or provides micro details. In fact, rabit-e-Islami’s competition was to have a book on seerah that is not large (one volume or so) and written in easy language. Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoum met these requirements the most and thus won the award.
What Shaykh Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri had to do, which was a very difficult task, was to decide what parts of seerah to add/highlight and what details to not include. Thus, the book covers major events of Rasoolullah (saw) life and the information is presented in a very beautiful manner, which is the strength of the book (together with the language) and thus became popular in Arabic, Urdu and other language speaking countries. Of course, there is still a lot of information and some very fine details of Prophet’s character as well as character of those around him.
No book of seerah can match the comprehensiveness of ibn Hishaam’s book on seerah, which is actually an edited version of the first ever book on seerah by ibn Ishaaq. Moreover, Shaykh Mubarakpuri references a lot from Rahmatulil ‘Alameen (see the footnotes), a book on seerah in Urdu by Allamah Mansourpuri, and this book is also more comprehensive than Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoum. InshaAllah, this (Rahmatulil ‘Alameen) should be the next book on seerah to be read by Urdu readership.
Some trivia: Shaykh Mubarakpuri died in 2006 at the advanced age of 64 (or close to it) in his hometown of Mubarakpuri, India after living in Saudi for a long time (after winning the award and becoming famous) and being the head of the seerah/biography department at Islamic University at al-Madinah al-Munawwarrah for many years. May Allah have mercy on him.
I’ve heard there is a shaykh in Makkah who is allowed to teach in Masjidul Haram who holds regular durus of this book.
Please remember that reading seerah of Rasoolullah (saw) is an act of ibadat in itself. It is a common sense thing to note that if you want to love somebody, you want to know him and if you want to know him, you want to read about him/find out about him. So, if you love or want to increase your love for the Prophet (saw), then read his seerah. May Allah raise us with His Messenger under the shade of His throne, ameen ya Rabb al-’alameen.
The book was published, I believe, in 1977 and after 10 years or so Shaykh Mubarakpuri himself rewrote it in Urdu.
on December 19th, 2008 at 6:14 PM
Thank you for the elaborate response.