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 ...

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. 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 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 Nuh Ha Mim Keller (born 1954) is an American Islamic scholar, teacher and author who lives in Amman. He is a translator of a number of Islamic books. Life and scholarship Keller studied philosophy and Arabic at the University of Chicago and th ...

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

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 Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...

'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 me ...

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