of subtle exegetical insights, refined faith-based and educational benefits, reflections that nurture the heart, a careful tracing of the wisdom and objectives of the Law, and a deliberate focus on whatever benefits people and brings them closer to Allah—all the while avoiding contentious juristic debates, Israelite tales, and unnecessary padding.

What sets this edition apart from its predecessors may be summarized as follows:

• Shaykh al-Saʿdī—may Allah have mercy on him—completed the composition of this work and copied it out in his own hand on 3 Shawwal 1368 AH (1). He then entrusted his manuscript to his student Shaykh Muḥammad b. Sulaymān al-Bassām—may Allah have mercy on him—for editing and review. Al-Bassām finished the clean copy and final edits in just four days, as he noted at the end of his copy, after which Shaykh al-Saʿdī sent that copy to the press, and it was published in the same year by the Imām Press in Egypt (2).

From the fact that Shaykh al-Saʿdī submitted al-Bassām’s edited copy for printing—rather than his own autograph manuscript—it is clear that he regarded al-Bassām’s version as the authorised text of his book, to the exclusion of the copy penned in his own hand.