^Umdat ar-Raghib

summarizing

Bughyat at–Talib

Authored by the scholar, the Muhaddith,

Shaykh ^Abdullah Al-Harari

Known by Al-Habashiyy (died 1429H)

The Prophet ﷺ said as narrated by al-Bayhaqiyy:

«طلبُ العِلمِ فريضةٌ على كلِّ مسلمٍ»

It means, there is a portion of the Religious Knowledge that is obligatory upon the accountable person to acquire.

Many scholars of the Shafi^iyy madh-hab were dedicated to summarizing lengthy religious texts and compiling matters related to the obligatory knowledge of the Religion into summarized works. Among them, the jurist and muhaddith Shaykh ^Abdullah, the son of Muhammad al-Harariyy, may God have mercy upon him, who summarized the book, Sulam at-Tawfiq, into a new book titled The Summary of ^Abdullah al-Harariyy Ensuring the Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion. After that, he explained it in a comprehensive commentary called Bughyat at–Talib fi Ma^rifati-l ^ilmi-d Diniyy al-Wajib.

However, the beginner who has only acquired a brief explanation of the summarized work may find it challenging to transition directly to studying the book Bughyat at–Talib and comprehending all what it entails of details, cautions, and valuable transmissions. Therefore, there was a need for authoring an intermediate-level book. Hence, due to the importance of this matter, and in order to facilitate the study of the Shafi^iyy jurisprudence for beginners and those desiring to acquire the Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion, and as a preparation for studying the book Bughyat at–Talib, we saw it fit to summarize Bughyat at–Talib along with annotations, cross-references, biographies, and helpful indices, which we present as a gift to the students of the noble Religious Knowledge. We named this commentary: ^Umdat ar-Raghib summarizing Bughyat at–Talib.