Previous Editions

Zād al-Ma‘ād was first printed in India in 1298 AH. Twenty-six years later, it was printed in Egypt in 1324 AH, followed by numerous editions in Cairo and Beirut. Here we shall mention only the important editions based on manuscripts:

(1) The Indian edition: Published in two volumes, the first comprising 522 pages and the second 415 pages. Each volume opens with a four-page “Index of Useful Insights, Rulings, Questions of Islamic Law, and Prophetic Characteristics.” In the printing colophon, Shaykh Muhammad ‘Abd al-‘Alī al-Madrāsī (d. 1327 AH)—apparently responsible for correcting this edition—stated that a notable, Shaykh Abū al-Khayrāt Muhammad Mūsā, had obtained the book during his journey to perform the pilgrimage to the House of Allah. He then suggested printing it to the proprietor of the Nizāmī Press in Kanpur, Muhammad ‘Abd al-Rahmān Khān ibn al-Hājj Muhammad Roshan Khān al-Hanafī. At the end of the first volume, the proprietor stated that he had made considerable efforts to obtain several copies of the book from Arab lands and had printed it, after collation and correction, under the supervision of Shaykh Muhammad Ya‘qūb. This was in 1298 AH, corresponding to 1881 CE. The statement in “Mu‘jam al-Matbū‘āt al-‘Arabiyya fī al-Hind” (Dictionary of Arabic Publications in India), (p. 356), that this edition also included Ibn Hishām’s biography of the Prophet is incorrect.

The Khuda Bakhsh Library holds a Yemeni manuscript copied by its owner, Ismā‘īl ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Husayn Habash, a student of Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Amīr al-San‘ānī. He transcribed al-Amīr’s annotations from the latter’s own copy into its margins. Corrections were made between the lines of this manuscript when it was collated against another copy.