Ethical Dimensions of al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ’s al-Shifā

<p dir="ltr">In modern scholarship, one frequently encounters impressive accolades attributed to ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā al-Yaḥṣubī’s (al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, d. 544/1149) <i>Kitāb al-Shifā bi-Taʿrīf Ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafā</i> (“The Cure in Knowing the Rights of the Chosen One”) and its significance within Islamic history. In her classic study,<i> And Muhammad is His Messenger</i>: <i>The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety</i>, Annemarie Schimmel described al-Shifā as “perhaps the most frequently used and commented-upon handbook in which the Prophet’s life, his qualities, and his miracles are described in every detail” (Schimmel 1985, 33). More recently, Camilo Gomez-Rivas has similarly noted that “the book became so famous that it was accorded a kind of sacredness of its own, reputedly bestowing the gift of protection upon any house in which it was found” (Gomez-Rivas 2013, 331). Of unknown provenance, a popular North African proverb expresses simultaneously the significance of al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ and his most famous work: “Were it not for ʿIyāḍ, the Maghrib would not have been mentioned. Were it not for <i>al-Shifā</i>, ʿIyāḍ would not have been mentioned” (Albarran 2015, 39; Kassas 1988, 49). There is little question that <i>al-Shifā</i> succeeded in presenting a vision of the Prophet Muḥammad which achieved a kind of canonical significance across much of the Islamic world.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Key Classical Works on Islamic Ethics<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</a><br>See chapter on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004459472_011" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004459472_011</a></p>