Kanz al-Ummal

Kanz al-‘Ummāl
Author	Ali ibn Abd-al-Malik al-Hindi
Original title	كنز العمال في سنن الأقوال والأفعال
Genre	Hadith collection

Treasure of the Doers of Good Deeds (Arabic: كنز العمال في سنن الأقوال والأفعال, romanized: Kanz al-‘Ummāl fī sunan al-aqwāl wa'l af‘āl) is an Islamic hadith collection, collected by the Islamic scholar Ala al-Din Ali ibn Abd-al-Malik Husam al-Din al-Muttaqi al-Hindi (1472 CE/AH 888 - 1567 CE/AH 975).

Description

Ali al-Muttaqi's major work is Kanz al-‘Ummāl regarding which his teacher Abu al-Hasan al-Bakrī al-Ṣiddiqī says: "Al-Suyūtī has done a great favor upon the entire world by writing al-Jāmi‘ al-Saghīr and ‘Ali al-Muttaqī has done a great service to al-Suyūṭī by compiling and arranging his work of al-Jāmi‘ al-Saghīr."^{[citation needed]}

Editions

First Published by Dā’irat al-Ma‘ārif Hyderabad Deccan, edited by the scholars of Jamia Nizamia.^{[citation needed]}
Published by Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah, Lebanon, 1998, edited by Mahmud Umar al-Dumyati.^{[citation needed]}

The author

Al-Muttaqī was born 888 AH, CE 1472 in Burhanpur, which is a town situated in modern-day Southern Madhya Pradesh on the banks of the river Tapti, India.^{[citation needed]} ‘Alī al-Muttaqī writes in his autobiography that when he was eight years old, it occurred to his father to enroll him in the service of Shaykh Bajan. The Shaykh instructed him in samā‘ and Shaykh ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Bajan taught me adhkār [pl. of "dhikr"].^{[dubious – discuss]} ‘Ali al-Muttaqī soon after earned his living as a scribe. He travelled to different regions of Hindustan and travelled to Multan to meet Shaykh Ḥisām al-Dīn al-Muttaqī and stayed under his guardianship, where he was instructed in Taṣawwuf (Sufism). ‘Alī al-Muttaqī then travelled to Makkah (Mecca) and stayed in the company of Abu al-Ḥasan al-Bakrī al-Ṣiddīqī, from whom he acquired knowledge of hadith and Taṣawwuf. ‘Alī al-Muttaqī wrote some of his early works in Makkah. ‘Alī al-Muttaqī also studied with the famous scholar of hadith Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad bin Hajar al-Makkī. ‘Alī al-Muttaqī returned twice to India to Gujarat which was ruled by Maḥmūd Shāh who was an admirer of the Shaykh.

Shaikh Ali Muttaqi was the follower of Shaikh Muse, they met in Makkah.^{[dubious – discuss]}

Works

The eminent Ahl-i Hadith religious scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal says regarding Shaykh ‘Alī al-Muttaqī: "I have read and studied the works of Shaykh ‘Alī al-Muttaqī, his works are very beneficial and informative and complete."^{[citation needed]}

From the works of Shaykh ‘Alī al-Muttaqī:

Kanz al-‘Ummāl , this is his most famous work. This work is printed.
Talkhīṣ al-Bayān, this book is regarding the Mahdi of the last time.
Maṭla‘ al-Ghāyah, it is a summary of Ibn al-Athīr’s "Al-Nihāyah fī Gharīb al-Aḥādīth". A manuscript of this was available in the Berlin Library.
Ghāyat al-Kamāl fī Bayān Afḍal al-‘Amaml , a copy of it is in the Dār al-‘Ulūm library of Peshawar , a copy also exists in Institute of Oriental Manuscripts Leningrad.
Al-Fuṣūl fī Sharḥ Jami‘ al-Uṣūl, a hand written manuscript by ‘Alī al-Muttaqī is in the collections of Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
Jawāmi‘ Kalim fī al-Mawāḍi‘ wa'l-Ḥikam, manuscripts of this work is available in many Indian collections also in Paris, Berlin, and al-Azhar.
Al-Aḥādīth al-Mutawattira, a manuscript is available Raza Library Rampur, India.
Al-Rutba al-Fākhira, this deals with "taṣawwuf".
Tabyīn al-Ṭarīq, also "taṣawwuf".
Al-Ḥukm al-‘Irfānīya, also "taṣawwuf".
Al-Burhān al-Jalī fī Ma‘rifat al-Walī.^{[citation needed]}

Other books by Shaykh ‘Alī al-Muttaqī are mentioned in the introduction of "Kanz al-‘Ummāl",^{[dubious – discuss]} a rare manuscript of the Shaykh^{[dubious – discuss]} is available in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland.

Death

Shaykh ‘Alī al-Muttaqī died in Makkah ((1567 CE/975 AH), where he was buried in the Jannat al-Mu'alla cemetery.

References