Kanz al-'Ummāl fī Sunan al-Aqwāl wal-Af'āl

Aladdin Ali bin Hussam al-Din bin Abd al-Malik bin Qazi Khan Motaqi Shazli Burhanpuri (855-975 AH), known as an Indian pious, Hanafi jurist, muhaddith, and preacher, is famous for his book Kanz al-Umal Fi Sunin Al-Aqwal and Al-Afal. About the author

1367

Nahjo al-fasahih

This book only includes those hadith of the Prophet (s) which speak about virtues and morals (akhlaq). It avoids hadith regarding other topics such as jurisprudence. About the topic of the book and its accuracy, the author says:I compiled this collection of the Prophet's (s) sayings through years of studying texts and spent as much of my life as possible on it - and even with all my attention, if there is any incorrect hadith in it, I would not be worried because I have not related something wrong to the Prophet (s) or quoted any weak saying from others; and also I might be allowed this because this collection is not about [the rulings of] the permissible and the forbidden - it is about the good, virtues and perfections - and leaders of the past have always been easy on the chains of transmitters of such hadith. Some of the sayings of this collection have at the same time been ascribed to Imam 'Ali (a). About such ambiguity of reference, the author says, "there are many cases when similar sayings and reports related to Imam Ali (a) have been reported from the Prophet (s), which some think is due to transmitters' mistakes; however, the fact is that the spiritual similarity between Muhammad (s) and Ali (a) has made such a result."

1382