Umdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik (''Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper'', also commonly known by its shorter title ''Reliance of the Traveller'') is a classical manual of

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...

for the

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

school of

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ex ...

. The author of the main text is 14th-century scholar Shihabuddin Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Misri (AH 702-769 / AD 1302–1367). Al-Misri based his work on the previous Shafi'i works of

Imam Nawawi Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī ( ar, أبو زكريا يحيى بن شرف النووي;‎ (631A.H-676A.H) (October 1230–21 December 1277), popularly known as al-Nawawī or Imam Nawawī, was a Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and ...

and Imam Abu Ishaq as-Shirazi, following the order of Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab (''The Rarefaction'') and the conclusions of Nawawi's Minhaj at-Talibin (''The Seeker's Road'').

Keller translation

''Umdat as-Salik'' was translated into English by the American Muslim scholar Nuh Ha Mim Keller in 1991 and became the first translation of a standard Islamic legal reference in a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an language to be certified by

Al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...

. The translation comprises 26 sections titled according to the letters of the English alphabet, Book A, Book B, Book C, etc. Books A through C contain introductory material forming a guide to fiqh compiled by Keller. Books D through O correspond to the original work of al-Misri, commencing with an "Author's Introduction". Following are translations of eight shorter works - Books P through V - which address topics such as personal ethics, character, and traditional Islamic Sufism, and include famous classical texts such as Al-Ghazzali's ''Ihya’ ʿulum al-din'' and

Nawawi The Arabic attributive title Nawawi ( ar, النووي), denoting an origin from Nawa, Syria, may refer to: * Al-Nawawi (1233–1277), Sunni Muslim author on Fiqh and hadith * Aznil Nawawi (born 1962), Malaysian actor * Mirnawan Nawawi (born 19 ...

's ''

Riyadh as-Saaliheen ''Riyad as-Salihin'' or ''The Meadows of the Righteous'', also referred to as ''The Gardens of the Righteous'' (Arabic: رياض الصالحين ''Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn''), is a compilation of verses from the Quran supplemented by hadith ...

''. Book W consists of extensive notes and appendices, Book X offers thumbnail biographies of hundreds of figures mentioned throughout the work, and Books Y and Z conclude it with a bibliography and indexes. Certain sections of the book were left untranslated (although the original Arabic text is retained), as Keller considered them irrelevant to modern societies. These parts include a section on

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, describing the rights and duties of slaves and their masters, as well as some smaller sections such as, for example, a discussion on fixing utensils using

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

Main sections of the Keller translation

*A. Sacred Knowledge (pg. 1) *B. The Validity of Following Qualified Scholarship (pg. 15) *C. The Nature of Legal Rulings (pg. 27) *D. Author's Introduction to 'Umdat al-Salik (pg. 47) *E. Purification (pg. 49) *F. The Prayer (pg. 101) *G. The Funeral Prayer (pg. 220) *H. Zakat (pg. 244) *I. Fasting (pg. 277) *J. The Pilgrimage (pg. 297) *K. Trade (pg. 371) *L. Inheritance (pg. 460) *M. Marriage (pg. 506) *N. Divorce (pg. 554) *O. Justice (pg. 578) *P. Enormities (pg. 649) *Q. Commanding the Right and Forbidding the Wrong (pg. 713) *R. Holding One's Tongue (pg. 726) *S. Delusions (pg. 777) *T. A Pure Heart (pg. 796) *U. The Gabriel Hadith (pg. 807) *V. Belief in Allah and His Messenger (pg. 816) *W. Notes and Appendices (pg. 826) *X. Biographical Notes (pg. 1019) *Y. Works Cited (pg. 1116) *Z. Indexes (pg. 1128)

References

* {{Authority control Sunni fiqh Sunni literature 14th-century jurists

Keller translation

Main sections of the Keller translation

See also

References