Ziyarat Al-Mustafa: Visiting the Prophet (S): Its Virtues, Etiquettes & Stories from the Salaf

About the authors

Abdallah Sirajuddin: Abdallah Sirajuddin al-Husayni (1342-1422 AH / 1923-2002 CE) was one of the leading scholars of twentieth-century Aleppo, known for his learning in hadith, Qurʾanic exegesis, creed, and the spiritual life, and revered for his devotion to the Prophet. A descendant of the Prophet through the Husayni line, he was born in Aleppo to the scholar Shaykh Muhammad Najib Sirajuddin, who guided his early education. He memorized the Qurʾan as a boy and pursued the sacred sciences at the Khasrawiyya madrasa, studying hadith under teachers such as Shaykh Isa al-Bayanuni. Hanafi in law, he began teaching while still young and continued for the rest of his life in the mosques, schools, and study circles of Aleppo. In 1958 he founded a school of Islamic learning with a full curriculum, and he established Qurʾanic instruction supported by scholarships. He authored more than thirty works spanning creed, prophetic biography and character, remembrance and supplication, ethics, hadith, and Qurʾanic studies. His best-known book is his major study of the Prophet, the basis of the English translation Our Master Muhammad (peace be upon him): His Sublime Character and Exalted Attributes; other writings translated into English include works on the testimony of faith, fasting, and sending prayers upon the Prophet. Among his students were scholars who became prominent in their own right, including Shaykh Nur al-Din ʿItr, who was also his son-in-law and biographer.

Yusuf al-Nabhani: Yusuf al-Nabhani (1265-1350 AH / 1849-1932 CE) was a Palestinian scholar, Ottoman jurist, and one of the most prolific poets of devotion to the Prophet Muhammad in the modern era. Shafiʿi in law and Ashʿari in creed, he was born in the village of Ijzim near Haifa, where his father, an imam, gave him his first instruction. He went on to study at al-Azhar in Cairo, then entered the Ottoman judiciary, holding posts across the Ottoman lands and rising to head the rights court of Beirut, an office he held for over twenty years. He took authorization in several Sufi paths, among them the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya. Al-Nabhani is most celebrated for his devotional and hadith-related writing centered on the Prophet. His landmark works include Wasaʾil al-Wusul ila Shamaʾil al-Rasul on the Prophet's noble character and appearance, Jamiʿ Karamat al-Awliyaʾ on the saints and their miracles, Saʿadat al-Darayn on prayers upon the Prophet, and al-Anwar al-Muhammadiyya. He compiled vast collections of litanies and praise poetry, such as al-Majmuʿa al-Nabhaniyya fi al-Madaʾih al-Nabawiyya. Late in life he traveled to Madina, where he lived for a time, before returning to his homeland, dying in Ramadan 1350 AH. He is remembered as a steadfast defender of traditional Sunni piety, Sufism, and love of the Prophet against the reformist currents of his day.

About the translator

Rashad Jameer: Rashad Jameer is a contemporary translator of classical Islamic texts, based in Toronto, Canada. He recommitted to his faith in his early twenties and took up the study of Arabic, the Quran, hadith, and Hanafi and Maliki fiqh with scholars in Canada, before continuing his training in Cairo, Egypt, and in Tarim, in the Hadramawt valley of Yemen. He is best known for rendering works of devotion and hadith into accessible English, frequently in bilingual editions that set the Arabic text alongside the translation and add explanatory notes and appendices. Much of his published work centers on love and reverence for the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. He translated Imam Yusuf al-Nabhani's collection on the virtues of the Prophet and his nation, a gathering of forty narrations, as well as related titles on the merits of sending prayers upon the Prophet and on the unique qualities of the Prophet and his community. He also translated Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's compilation of prophetic practices and prayers, published as The Work of Day and Night, and a selection from Imam al-Sabuni's Safwat al-Tafasir covering Surat al-Waqia. His translations have appeared with publishers including Wasila Press and the Islamic Texts Society. Alongside this work he teaches Islamic studies at several mosques in Toronto, making the traditional sources available to English-speaking readers and worshippers.