''Forty Hadith'' ( ar-at, الأربعون حديثًا, Al-Arba‘ūn Ḥadīthān, lit=The Forty Traditions) is a 1940 book written by

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

, the founder of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It describes his personal interpretations of the forty

traditions A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

attributed to

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

, the

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, and

The Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams ( ar, ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, '; fa, دوازده امام, ') are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Islam, including that of the Alawi ...

. The book was originally a pamphlet that Khomeini used to teach to his students at the

Feyziyeh School Feyziyya School ( fa, مدرسه فیضیه) is an old school in Iran that was founded in the Safavid era. The school has been listed as one of Iran's national monuments as of January 29, 2008. The school served as a focal point for clerical oppos ...

Qom Seminary The Qom Seminary () is the largest Islamic seminary (''hawza'') in Iran, established in 1922 by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi in Qom. It trains Usuli scholars. History Although big Shi'a academies existed in Qom dating back as early ...

Background

Islamic scholars, motivated by a tradition from the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

of Islam,

, which promises Divine Rewards for scholars who collect forty traditions, compile hadith narrations in groups of forty. The best-known example of this genre is

Imam Nawawi's Forty Hadith Nawawi's Forty (sc. “Forty Hadith”, in Arabic: ''al-arbaʿīn al-nawawiyyah'') is a compilation of forty hadiths by Imam al-Nawawi, most of which are from Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari. This collection of hadith has been particularly value ...

, which was written to include all the fundamentals of the sacred Islamic law. Khomeini completed his collection in 1939, and it was first published in 1940. He quotes the Arabic text of each hadith in the book with its

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

translation and discusses its various themes.

Themes

Thirty-three of the hadith Khomeini selected pertain to

Islamic ethics Islamic ethics (أخلاق إسلامية) is the "philosophical reflection upon moral conduct" with a view to defining "good character" and attaining the "pleasure of God" (''raza-e Ilahi''). It is distinguished from "Islamic morality", which per ...

, including acts which bring reward or punishment. The other seven focus on beliefs and concepts related to the

Theology of Twelvers The theology of Twelver Shi'ism contains the five principles of Shia Islam known as ''Uṣūl ad-Dīn'' ( ar, أصول الدين عند الشيعة). Usul al-dín is an Arabic Islamic term which literally translates as 'principles of the fait ...

. Among the themes identified by Khomeini are Ostentation, Pride, Envy, Anger, Hypocrisy, Desire and Hope, the Kinds of Hearts,

Walayah Welayah or Walaya (, meaning "guardianship" or “governance”) is a general concept of the Islamic faith and a key word in Shia Islam that refers, among other things, to the nature and function of the Imamate. Welayah is a word which a powe ...

(guardianship) and Love of the world.

Translations

In 2009, the book was translated into French with the assistance of Iran's Cultural Center in Paris, and the translation was published by the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Ayatollah Khomeini's Works. Four years later, the book was translated into

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

by Ali Husseini and published by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s cultural attaché in Turkey. It has also been translated into English and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

References

{{Ruhollah Khomeini 1940 books Ruhollah Khomeini Shia literature Political science books Islamist works Iranian Revolution Iranian books