New Page 3

The Book
AL-MISBĀH-UL-KAF'AMI

TITLE (in full):

JUNNAT-UL-AMĀN-UL-WĀQIYAH WA JANNAT-UL-ĪMĀN-UL-BĀQIYAH (popularly known as
Misbāh-ul-Kaf'ami)

AUTHOR:

Taqiuddīn Ibrahim
son of Ali Kaf'ami (840-905 Hegira)

SUBJECT:

Supplications, and
Ziārat (prayers addressed to holy Imams and their descendants during pilgrimage
to their holy shrines). In fact, the book Misbāh is a selection and abridgement
of Kaf'ami's earlier book Al-Balad-ul-Amīn.

YEAR OF COMPILATION:

Sheikh Taqiuddīn
Kaf'ami completed writing of the book in the year 895 Hegira, ten years before
his death.

EVALUATION OF
AL-MISBĀH:

In the introduction
of the book, Kaf'ami explains:

"The book Misbāh'
is a collection of prayers I have selected from authentic books that are
actually as firm strings to which all people should resort. I arranged the
contents in such a way that a reader can well feel inspired to seek the highest
stage towards attaining Divine Proximity."

The other
significance of the book lies in the fact that it gained a widespread popularity
among Muslim people of its time. To elaborate the matter, it is worth mentioning
that there have been two books known as Misbāh:

Misbāh-ul-Mutahajjid written by Sheikh Tūsi, which is also called as Misbāh
Kabir

Misbāh-ul-Kaf'ami

Misbāh Kabir had
been a well-received book, and practically every devout family kept a copy of
it. However, after appearance of Misbāh Kaf'ami, it attained such a popularity
that took the place of Sheikh Tūsi's Misbāh Kabir.

SOURCES OF MISBĀH:

The sources consist
of 238 books, referred to and listed by the author at the end of the book. These
contain prayers, supplications, interpretations of the holy Qur'an, and Fiqh
(Islamic Jurisprudence).

ARRANGEMENT OF THE
CONTENTS:

The book has fifty
chapters. The early chapters deal with the basic Divine precepts (Ahkām) on
preliminary necessities for performing daily prayers (Salāt), including decrees
on body purification, or Tahārat.

In the subsequent
chapters, the obligatory (Wājib) and optional (Mustahabb) Salāts along with the
recommended supplications (Ta'qeebāt) after Salāts are described in details,
each in a separate chapter.

These are followed
by other various supplications and their timings of performance according to the
prescribed manner.

From chapter 41
onward there is a focus on prayers to be recited at pilgrimage places (Ziārat).

The other relevant
contents include birthdays and dates of martyrdom of the infallible Imams
(A.S.).

Furthermore, ritual
acts during the months of Rajab onward up till Dhulhajjah are mentioned.

In the concluding
part of the book, there is a discussion on the prerequisites of prayers and
supplications, including the factors that would be effective for acceptance of
our prayers by the Almighty Allah, the conditions that a person who prays must
observe, the quality of praying, its preliminary conditions, etc.

TRANSLATIONS:

There are many
translations of the book Al-Misbāh, which include the following:

Translation by Qāzi
Jamāluddin son of Fathullāh Shirāzi (resident of Hindustan)

"Rāhat-ul-Arwāh", a
translation by Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Khān Mūsawi Jazāeri

A translation by
Sayyid Muhammad Rizā Husseini

"Mūnis-ul-Ābedīn"
or "Nikbakhtiyeh", by Mirzā Mahmūd ibne Ali

"Misbāh-ul-Janān Wa
Miftāh-ul-Jinān", by Sharafuddin Beyrami Lāri. This translation includes
translator's preface and closing remarks as well. The translator has actually
summarized the original Misbāh and published it with artistic illumination style
on the pages (known as Tahzeeb).

ABRIDGEMENTS OF THE BOOK:

"Al-Jannat-ul-Wāqiyah", by Kaf'ami himself: due to the high volume of Misbāh,
Kaf'ami decided to summarize it into 40 chapters. In fact this has been the very
first summarization by the author of Misbāh himself.

"Al-Anwar-ul-Muqtabasah min-al-Misbāh"

"Ziya-ul-Thaqalayn", by Mirzā Hātam Nizām Mulki: the
author has made an anthology out of Misbāh, and inserted some more Islamic
decrees as well as selections from Sheikh Tūsi's Misbāh-ul-Mutahjid' into the
text. He has also added some explanatory notes to some citations of Kaf'ami.
These notes start with the phrase «مِنهُ
سَلّمَهُ الله»,
i.e. "He (Kaf'ami) - May Allah safeguard his health - cites"

ANNOTATIONS (HĀSHIAH)

Al-Hāshiyah Alā
Junnat-ul-Amān, by Ahmad son of Muhammad son of Ali Qayyūmi Mesri

Hāshiyah bar Misbāh
(An Annotation on Misbāh), by Kaf'ami himself. This represents the most
significant marginal commentary by the author of Misbāh himself, and is as
voluminous as the original book of Misbāh! Some of these explanatory notes now
appear on the margin of the original book Misbāh.

PRINT:

With regard to
transcriptions or copies, it is notable that the book Misbāh was so
well-received by the interested Muslim families and the Islamic countries that
in the very first century of its publication, numerous copies were repeatedly
made to meet the widespread and increasing demand.

The present copy
contains valuable annotations by both Kaf'ami and Sheikh Tūsi. Also the
duplicate copies of Misbāh are available at the margins.

And finally, the
titles of chapters and supplications/prayers are indicated at the margins in
bold script.