الإتحافات السنية في الأحاديث القدسية مع النفحات السلفية بشرح الأحاديث القدسية

al-Ithafat al-Saniyyah fi al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah ma'a al-Nafahat al-Salafiyyah bi-Sharh al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah

A useful collection and commentary devoted specifically to al-Aḥādīth al-Qudsiyyah—Prophetic traditions in which the Prophet ﷺ relates words from Allah Most High. The volume combines two complementary works: al-Itḥāfāt al-Saniyyah of the prolific Egyptian ḥadīth scholar ʿAbd al-Raʾūf al-Munāwī (d. 1031 AH), and al-Nafaḥāt al-Salafiyyah, the explanatory notes and commentary of the Damascene Azharī scholar Muḥammad Munīr ibn ʿAbduh Āghā al-Dimashqī (d. 1367 AH).

Al-Munāwī's original work gathers 272 sacred aḥādīth, arranged alphabetically according to their opening words for ease of reference. Their subject matter encompasses a broad range of religious teachings, including faith in Allah, worship, remembrance and supplication, repentance and forgiveness, Divine mercy, sincerity, righteous conduct, reward and punishment, and preparation for the Hereafter. Its alphabetical arrangement gives the collection the character of a convenient reference work as well as a text suitable for continuous reading.

Muḥammad Munīr al-Dimashqī subsequently prepared the text for students and added the commentary entitled al-Nafaḥāt al-Salafiyyah bi-Sharḥ al-Aḥādīth al-Qudsiyyah. He explains expressions and meanings requiring clarification, identifies the sources of the narrations and provides biographical notices for a number of their transmitters. In his introduction, he explains that students at religious institutes had asked him for a suitable collection of sacred aḥādīth; after locating al-Munāwī's manuscript in the Egyptian National Library, he had it copied, collated and corrected, and then added explanatory notes where required.

An especially important feature of the Dār Ibn Kathīr edition is the additional ḥadīth-critical work of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Arnaʾūṭ and Ṭālib ʿAwwād. They point out that describing a narration as a ḥadīth qudsī does not imply that it is automatically authentic: such reports, like other aḥādīth, may be ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, weak, very weak or fabricated. Al-Munāwī had collected the reports on account of their being transmitted as sacred aḥādīth rather than restricting his compilation to authentic material, while al-Dimashqī's commentary had not systematically graded them. The editors therefore undertook the takhrīj and assessment of the collected aḥādīth, as well as tracing the additional narrations cited by the commentator.

The resulting volume thus brings together three useful scholarly layers: al-Munāwī's collection of the sacred aḥādīth, al-Dimashqī's explanation of their vocabulary and meanings, and the modern editors' sourcing and critical assessment of the narrations. It is consequently a practical resource for readers wishing to study al-ḥadīth al-qudsī while remaining aware of the differing degrees of authenticity within the genre.

The Dār Ibn Kathīr, Damascus–Beirut edition is edited by ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Arnaʾūṭ and Ṭālib ʿAwwād and published in one hardback volume of 412 pages