The salaf

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What this shelf gathers

The accounts of the lives of the first three generations: how they conducted themselves, what they said about knowledge and its acquisition, their restraint in property and in speech, their reported answers. The genre is early and the aim is edifying: it offers examples of conduct, not a chronology nor a dictionary of names.

The reference works

Hilyat al-awliya wa tabaqat al-asfiya by Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani: the largest collection of the genre, in volumes, with the chains of transmission. It calls for a serious editor.
Sifat as-safwa by Ibn al-Jawzi: a reasoned abridgement of the above, cleared of part of what the author judged foreign to the subject. Shorter and more readable.
Az-Zuhd by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Az-Zuhd by Ibn al-Mubarak: early collections on restraint, built in chapters.
The collections of the sayings of the salaf, arranged by theme: knowledge, time, the tongue, fear.
The contemporary compilations that select these accounts with a modern takhrij.

The salaf: three shelves, three angles

This shelf deals with their lives. What they wrote on creed is in Works of the salaf, under aqida. And the work on the heart these accounts call for is in Purification of the soul. One word, three shelves, and the product page always states which of the three you are in.

What to check

The takhrij above all: the genre holds many weak accounts, and Hilyat al-awliya in particular reports without systematic sifting. The editor and the volume count. And the difference between the complete work and the abridgement, since Sifat as-safwa is itself an abridgement and has abridgements of its own.

Related shelves

For the first generation in particular, Lives of the companions. For the scholars of the following centuries, Biographies of scholars. For brief exhortation, Reminders and exhortations. For wisdom and restraint, Wisdom and zuhd. Overview: History.

Order and shipping

Real stock displayed, dispatch within 24 to 48 working hours, delivery to France, Europe and the rest of the world. To choose between Hilyat al-awliya and Sifat as-safwa, write to us: we give the volume count and the takhrij of each.

How does this differ from the Works of the salaf shelf?

Here, their lives: their conduct, their reported words, their relation to knowledge. In Works of the salaf, which sits under aqida, the books they themselves wrote on creed. Same word, two shelves, and the product page always states which of the two you are in.

Hilyat al-awliya or Sifat as-safwa?

Sifat as-safwa if you want to read: Ibn al-Jawzi abridges the former there and removes part of what he judged foreign to the subject. Hilyat al-awliya if you want the complete source with its chains of transmission, in volumes, and provided you take a verified edition.

Why is takhrij essential here?

Because the genre holds many weak accounts. Hilyat al-awliya in particular reports without systematic sifting, and in an edition without notes nothing separates an established account from a baseless one. We state the takhrij and the editor on every product page of this shelf.

Do these accounts replace a book of tazkiya?

No, they go with one. An account shows a conduct; a treatise of tazkiya explains the mechanism of the heart and the method. Many readers find the two complementary: the account gives the example, the treatise gives the work. See Purification of the soul for the latter.