—no matter how eloquently I might describe it—cannot truly convey its scholarly worth. As the poet said:
“O son of the noble, will you not come close and see
what they have told you of? For the eye beholds what the ear can only hear.” (1)
Printings of this commentary
The work was first published in a single volume, edited by Shaykh Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf (may Allah have mercy on him), former Grand Mufti of Egypt, in 1380 AH / 1960 CE at al-Madani Press in Cairo. Subsequent editions followed the pattern of this first printing, whether by photo-reproduction or by new typesetting. The book was later issued in three volumes, edited by Dr. ʿAbdullah b. ʿAbd al-Muhsin al-Turki in cooperation with Muhammad Muʿtazz Karim al-Din, together with the marginal commentary Fath Mawla al-Mawahib ʿala Hidayat al-Raghib by Shaykh Ahmad b. ʿAwad, under Mu’assasat al-Risalah in 1428 AH.
Scholarly work devoted to this commentary
- Shaykh Ahmad b. ʿAwad al-Mardawi (d. 1102 AH) produced a marginal commentary on Hidayat al-Raghib from the beginning of the book up to the middle of the section on prayer, entitled Fath Mawla al-Mawahib ʿala Hidayat al-Raghib. It was edited by Dr. al-Turki and printed alongside Hidayat al-Raghib.
- Hidayat al-Raghib also has an abridgement entitled Nayl al-Maʾarib fi Tahdhib Sharh ʿUmdat al-Talib, composed by Shaykh ʿAbdullah b. ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Bassam (d. 1423 AH).