Tanbih al-khawatir wa nuzhat al-nawazir (book)
 Bibliographical Information | |
| Author | Warram b. Abi Firas al-Hilli |
|---|---|
| Original title | تَنبیهُ الخَواطِر و نُزهَةُ النَّواظِر |
| Language | Arabic |
| Series | 2 volumes |
| Subject | Ethics |
| Genre | Hadith |
Tanbīh al-khawāṭir wa nuzhat al-nawāẓir (Arabic: تَنبیهُ الخَواطِر و نُزهَةُ النَّواظِر) is a book in Arabic written by Warram b. Abi Firas al-Hilli, Twelver Shi'a jurist and hadith scholar of the sixth/twelfth century. The topic of this book is moral lessons and dictums.
Author
Abu l-Ḥusayn Warram b. Abi Firas al-Hilli (b. ?, d. 605/1208) was a jurist and hadith in the sixth/twelfth and early seventh/thirteenth century. Tanbih al-khawatir wa nuzhat al-nawazir was significant work written by Warram b. Abi Firas which made him famous.
He passed away in Muharram 2, 605/July 17, 1208 in Hillah. Hasan al-Amin in Mustadrak A'yan al-Shi'a has said that his body was moved to Kufa and was buried in the [[Holy Shrine of Imam 'Ali (a)] There is also a tomb attributed to him, in the city of Hilla in the mosque of al-Shaykh Warram.
Name
The name of the book has been mentioned in different ways such as: Tanbih al-khatir wa nuzhat al-nazir[1],nuzhat al-nazir wa Tanbih al-khatir[2], Tanbih al-khawatir[3], Tanbih al-khatir[4], nuzhat al-nazir[5] and Tanbih al-khawatir wa nuzhat al-nazir[6]. This book is also known as Majmu'a Warram.
Content
The title and its subtitle "Fi l-targib wa al-tarhib wa al-mawa'iz wa al-zawajir" which has been mentioned in some references following the title[7], shows that is about moral lessons and dictums.
Tanbih al-khawatir includes two parts which are both divided to chapters with an approximate order; however, despite specific titles for each chapter, the topics of each are not definitely categorized under the chapter title and the book looks like a collection of hadiths, poems, proverbs and stories.
The first part contains 66 independent topics; however the author has not given any titles to the topics of the second part.
Most important topics of the book are lessons in practical ethics such as enjoining to piety and moral purity, listing vices and their cures, mentioning virtues and ways of achieving them, topics on manners of association and other details on the manners of living, some chapters on death and life in hereafter and description of the Resurrection and Day of Judgment. The second part contains some sermons from the Prophet (s) and Imams (a) and discussions Shi'a had with them.
In the first part, the influence of al-Ghazzali's Ihya al-'Ulum on the book is obvious to the extent that it can be considered an adoption of that. In many cases, Warram has copied al-Ghazzali's content fully or with slight modification without mentioning his name.
Generally, the author's original approach can be considered an ascetic morality based on the Qur'an and the conduct of the Prophet (s) which has been extended to include stories and quotations from Iranian kings and noblemen, Sufis and the people of wisdom.
Weaknesses
Like many other books containing a collection of hadiths in ethics, this book also suffers from lack of authenticity of hadiths; about which, al-Hurr al-'Amili[8] said, the book contains authentic and inauthentic, strong and weak hadiths. Even with al-Majlisi so much benefited from this book, he also confirmed that there is no ways of discrimination among hadiths in the book and hadiths of Shi'a Imams have been mixed with Sunni's. Therefore, al-Majlisi only quoted those hadiths he deemed reliable.[9] However, Agha Buzurg Tihrani believed that Warram had mixed Shi'a and Sunni reports intentionally so that Sunnis are attracted to the book and they may be guided.[10]
Manuscripts
According to Mirza 'Abd Allah Afandi al-Isfahani in Riyad al-'ulama, there have been a concise manuscript of Tanbih al-khawatir and a comprehensive version too.[11]
Also al-Sayyid b. Tawus has quoted some texts from Tanbih al-khawatir in Falah al-sa'il and al-Yaqin which are non-existent in printed copy and possibly existed in the comprehensive version too.[12]
The common edition of Tanbih al-khawatir comprises the two parts in one volume which was lithographed in 1924 in Tehran and later was frequently reprinted.
Notes
- ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 1, pp. 10, 22, 106
- ↑ Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa. vol. 12. pp. 66
- ↑ Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil , vol. 1, p. 109; Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 3, p. 448.
- ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 1, p. 29; vol. 85, p. 4.
- ↑ Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa. vol.20. pp. 109
- ↑ Al-Amīn, Mustadrakat aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 1, p. 250.
- ↑ Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, vol. 24, p. 130.
- ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, ʾAmal al-āmil, part 2, p. 338.
- ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 1, p. 29.
- ↑ Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa, vol. 24, p. 131.
- ↑ Afandī Iṣfahānī, Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ wa ḥiyāḍ al-fuḍalāʾ, vol. 5, p. 286.
- ↑ Kohlberg, Kitābkhāna Ibn Ṭāwūs wa aḥwāl wa āthār oū, p. 386.
References
- Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. Al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa. Najaf: Maktabat Ṣaḥib al-Dharīʿa al-ʿĀmma, [n.d].
- Afandī Iṣfahānī, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿIsā. Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ wa ḥiyāḍ al-fuḍalāʾ. Edited by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī, Qom: 1401 AH.
- Amīn, Ḥasan al-. Mustadrakāt aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Beirut, 1408-1416/1987-1996.
- Amīn, Sayyid Muḥsin al-. Aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Edited by Ḥasan al-Amīn, Beirut, 1403/1983.
- Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. ʾAmal al-āmil. 2nd part. Edited by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī, Qom: 1361 Sh.
- Ibn Athīr, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1422 AH.
- Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Lisān al-mīzān. Ḥaydarabad. Beirut: 1390 AH/1971.
- Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Amān al-akhṭār fī wazāyif al-asfār. Qom: 1409 AH.
- Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Falāḥ al-sāʾil wa najāḥ al-masāʾil fī ʿamal al-yawm wa al-laylah. Edited by Ghulām Ḥusayn Majīdī. Qom: 1377 Sh.
- Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamart al-muhja. Najaf: 1370 AH.
- Jawād, Muṣṭafa. Jāwān qabīla al-kurdīya al-mansīyya wa mashāhīr al-jāwānīyīn. Majalla Majmaʾ al-ʾilmī al-ʾIrāqī, 1375 AH.
- Kohlberg, Etan. A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work: Ibn Ṭāwūs and His Library. Translated as "Kitābkhāna Ibn Ṭāwūs wa aḥwāl wa āthār oū" by ʿAlī Qarāʾyī and Rasūl Jaʿfarīyān. Qom, 1993.
- Nūrī, Mīrzā Ḥusayn al-. Mustadrak al-wasāʾil wa musṭanbit al-wasā'il. Tehran: 1382 Sh and Lithograph Printing of Tehran 1318-1321.
- Rāzī, Muntajab al-Dīn, ʿAlī b. ʿAbdullāh. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Armawī. Qom: 1366 Sh.
- Warrām, Masʿūd b. ʿIsā. Tanbīh al-khawāṭir wa nuzhat al-nawāẓir al-maʿrūf bi majmūʿat Warrām. ʿAlī Aṣghar Ḥāmid Printing, Tehran, 1376 Sh.