Sheikh As-Sa'di

Sheikh as-Sa'di: The Scholar, His Work, and Key Dates

• Full name: Abderrahman ibn Nasir ibn Abdallah ibn Nasir as-Sa'di an-Nasiri at-Tamimi (عبد الرحمن بن ناصر السعدي), often abbreviated to Ibn Sa'di.
• Birth: 12 Muharram 1307 AH (1889 CE) in Unaizah, in the Qassim region.
• Childhood: He lost his mother at age four and his father at age seven. Raised as an orphan, he memorized the entire Qur’an by the age of eleven.
• Duties: Mufti of his city, drafter of legal documents and wills, officiant at weddings, and advisor to his fellow citizens—all without remuneration.
• Notable refusal: He was offered the position of judge in 1360 but declined it.
• Initiatives: In 1358, he founded the first library in Ounayza, and beginning in 1373, he oversaw the city’s scientific institute, again on a volunteer basis.
• Death: before dawn on Thursday, the 22nd of Jumada al-Akhira 1376—that is, at the beginning of 1957—in Ounayza, at the age of 69.
• Major Work: *Taysir al-Karim al-Rahman fi Tafsir Kalam al-Mannan*, his commentary on the Quran, known everywhere as *Tafsir as-Sa’di*.

Orphaned at age seven, he served as his town’s mufti on a volunteer basis

His biography is primarily defined by a very limited geographical scope. Born in Unaizah in 1307 AH, he lost his mother there at the age of four and his father at seven; he grew up there, studied there, taught there, and died there at the age of sixty-nine. He never left this city in the Qassim region for any extended period.

What he accomplished there, however, went far beyond the scope of local teaching. He was the town’s mufti—the one who drafted legal documents and wills, officiated at weddings, and whom people came to consult for any difficulty. He did all this free of charge, never accepting any compensation. When he was offered a position as a judge in 1360, he refused, and the mere fact that they insisted made him ill. In 1358, he founded the first library in Unaizah. In 1373, he oversaw the scientific institute established in the city, again without pay.

Among his students was the man who would carry on his teachings in the same mosque and become one of the greatest faqihs of his time, Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin, who learned more from him than from anyone else and succeeded him upon his death.

The Commitment to Simplicity

As-Sa’di had an explicit intention that his titles themselves reveal: two of his major works begin with the word تيسير, which means to facilitate or make accessible. This is not merely a matter of choosing a catchy title; it is a guiding principle.

Classical tafsir, as it was traditionally practiced, layered upon one another chains of transmission, grammatical analyses, narratives of uncertain origin, and divergences among commentators. A non-specialist reader would get lost before reaching the end of the first surah. As-Sa’di made a radical choice: to convey the meaning directly, in deliberately clear Arabic, without critical apparatus or digressions. The result fits into a single volume and can be read from cover to cover.

He went even further by writing his own introductory texts for beginners, including an abridged work on fiqh. Writing a new matn in the twentieth century is rare, as most of the texts studied in academic curricula are medieval. He did so because he considered the older ones too difficult for a beginner.

For a French-speaking reader learning Arabic, this approach makes all the difference. As-Sa’di is very likely the first classical author you’ll read without needing a dictionary for every line.

His works

Taysir al-Karim al-Rahman fi Tafsir Kalam al-Manan

His commentary on the Quran, the most widely circulated of all his writings and one of the best-selling tafsirs in the world. Direct meaning, short sentences, no technical clutter. This is the title to start with, without hesitation.

تيسير اللطيف المنان في خلاصة تفسير القرآن

A thematic summary of the purposes of the Quran, in a single volume. A useful complement to the previous work, it allows you to approach the text by theme rather than surah by surah.

Al-Qawa’id al-Hasanah li-Tafsir al-Qur’an

A very brief booklet of rules for understanding the Quran. Best read after the tafsir, as it sheds light on the author’s methodology.

Manahij al-Salikin wa-Tawdih al-Fiqh fi al-Din

His abridged work on fiqh, written for beginners. A brief text, organized by chapters, which has since been extensively commented on by other scholars. An ideal introduction to the discipline.

The Joy of the Hearts of the Righteous and the Delight of the Eyes of the Virtuous

His commentary on ninety-nine hadiths selected for their general significance. Each hadith forms a unit of a few pages, making it an excellent text for practice.

القواعد والأصول الجامعة

A compendium of the fundamentals of Islamic law, written in the same spirit of conciseness as the rest of his work.

Useful Means for a Happy Life

A short treatise on inner peace and the means to a serene life. One of his most widely read works outside of scholarly circles.

Al-Fatawa al-Sa‘diya

A collection of his legal rulings, organized by topic. A reference work rather than a text for continuous reading.

In addition are his commentaries on classical texts, including his explanation of Ibn al-Qayyim’s *Nūniyya* and his work on Ibn Taymiyyah’s *Ta’iyya*, as well as a collection of his sermons.

Which edition of the tafsir to choose

This is the only real question to consider when purchasing works by this author, and it deserves three minutes of your attention before placing an order.

The tafsir is available as a single hardcover volume and in editions divided into multiple volumes. The single-volume edition is the traditional format and remains the most convenient: the text is continuous, you don’t have to search for which volume contains which surah, and it fits on a bookshelf. Its drawback is its weight—around a thousand pages—which makes it unwieldy for extended reading or while traveling. The multi-volume editions solve this problem and often offer thicker paper and a more comfortable reading experience, at the cost of taking up more space and being more expensive.

Two factors matter more than the number of volumes. First, vocalization: the verses are always vocalized, but the commentary is not consistently so, and this makes a big difference for a beginner. Second, font size: in a book you’ll open every day for years, a tightly set typeface quickly becomes discouraging.

This information is listed on every product page in our catalog, along with the publisher, year of publication, and actual page count.

Buy Sheikh as-Sa’di’s books in Arabic

All books sold by My Maktaba are in Arabic, in their original editions, and all are brand new. For each of the Sheikh’s titles, the product page lists the publisher, the year, the number of volumes, the format, the binding type, and the vocalization status.

A reading tip to conclude. Many readers purchase the tafsir with the intention of reading it in its entirety but give up after a few surahs, discouraged by its length. The best approach is to use it as a companion: read your daily passage from the Quran, then open as-Sa’di to those specific verses. Two or three pages a day. After a year, you’ll have gone through a considerable portion of the work without ever feeling like you were tackling it head-on.