A valuable collection of Prophetic traditions on the virtues of righteous deeds and the six qualities associated with Daʿwah to Allah, compiled by the Indian scholar and preacher Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf al-Kāndahlawī. The work gathers a large body of aḥādīth scattered throughout the classical sources and brings them together into a practical compendium intended to nurture faith, righteous action and the qualities required for calling others to Allah.
As the editor explains, Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf devoted considerable effort to extracting these narrations from the depths of the Ḥadīth collections despite his extensive involvement in Daʿwah and travelling for its propagation. His selections encompass the virtues of numerous fundamental aspects of religious life, particularly the Kalimah “Lā ilāha illa Allāh,” Ṣalāh, knowledge and dhikr, honouring fellow Muslims, good character, the rights and status of a Muslim, sincerity, condemning ostentation (riyāʾ), calling towards Allah, and abandoning that which does not concern a person and unnecessary speech. The result, in the editor's words, is a substantial encyclopaedia of the virtues of deeds (Faḍāʾil al-Aʿmāl).
The title al-Aḥādīth al-Muntakhabah fī al-Ṣifāt al-Sitt reflects the organisation of these Prophetic teachings around the six qualities central to the author's programme of Daʿwah and spiritual reform. Rather than merely discussing these qualities theoretically, the work gathers the Prophetic material relating to them, allowing the reader to study the virtues, encouragements and ethical teachings associated with each through the words of the Prophet ﷺ and the transmitted tradition.
Importantly, the editor notes that Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf passed away after compiling the work but before he was able to arrange, refine and fair-copy it for publication. His grandson, Shaykh Muḥammad Saʿd Hārūn, subsequently took possession of the manuscript and, together with a group of scholars, worked upon it: arranging and fair-copying the material, rewriting portions where necessary, carefully ضبط the texts of the aḥādīth, and providing their takhrīj. The present edition therefore represents the completion and scholarly preparation of a collection originally assembled by Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf himself.
The Dār Ibn Kathīr edition has received a further substantial scholarly revision by al-Ḥasan Muḥammad al-Amīn. He explains that, despite the earlier work carried out on the manuscript, it still required closer verification of its aḥādīth and greater explanation of their meanings. His work on the present edition therefore included six principal elements: correcting the texts of the aḥādīth against their original sources; providing detailed takhrīj (while generally sufficing with al-Bukhārī or Muslim when a report occurs in either Ṣaḥīḥ); assessing the authenticity of the narrations after examining their isnāds, narrators and the judgments of earlier and contemporary Ḥadīth critics; explaining aḥādīth whose meanings require clarification; carefully ضبط the Qurʾānic verses according to the ʿUthmānic script and supplying their sūrah and verse references; and presenting the entire work in a clear Arabic typeface.
This edition is consequently particularly useful for readers of the original collection who want a text furnished with source references, Ḥadīth grading and explanatory notes, while preserving Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf al-Kāndahlawī’s original focus on the Prophetic foundations of the six qualities and the virtues of righteous deeds.
