The Delight of the Observers, an Explanation of Riyad as-Salihin

Author's name: Salim Eid Al-Hilali

In the name of the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His aid, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can misguide, and he whom He misguides, none can guide.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

And now: One of the most enjoyable books on the Prophetic traditions and the most beneficial compilations on the Muhammadan traditions is the book “Riyadh as-Salihin from the words of the Master of Messengers” by Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf an-Nawawi, may God be pleased with him. It is one of the most comprehensive books on hadith and the most widely distributed, most widely circulated and most famous, as it has no other style in collecting the traditions of what is forbidden and what is permissible, and knowing the hadiths on the virtues of times and actions.

“And its author, may God have mercy on him, gave it great care and protected it completely, desiring that it would include what would be a path for its author to the Hereafter, and a collection of its inner and outer manners, gathering encouragement and intimidation and all kinds of manners of the seekers; from the hadiths of asceticism, spiritual exercises, moral refinement, purification of hearts and their treatment, preservation of limbs and removal of their crookedness, and other objectives of the knowers” ​​(1). Therefore, he selected its hadiths from the collections of Islam upon which the Prophetic Sunnah revolves: “And I committed myself to mentioning in it only authentic hadiths from the clear ones added to the authentic and well-known books (2); so he arranged them and perfected the arrangement, and classified them and made the classifications excellent, and controlled the problematic and explained the strange, so it is a wonderful and impregnable work, its side is strong, its camels are settled, its strays are easy to seize, and many quotations from its benefits are made; So Allah, the Most High, fulfilled his desire for his sincerity and piety and completed for him what he sought: “I hope that if this book is completed, it will be a guide for those who care for it to good deeds and a barrier for them from all kinds of ugliness and destruction (1); so may Allah reward his effort and make the highest Paradise his and our abode. The great majority of Muslims have accepted it and have turned to it, so it has been the teacher of teachers in education and reform, and rarely is a Muslim home without it. Therefore, the people of knowledge and its students have studied and taught it, so many people of righteousness have commented on it, and the people of success have trodden towards it, and they have quenched their thirst for its pure spring and smelled its fragrant scent; some of them have abridged and refined it, another has verified and brought it closer, and a third has explained it but not completely. So I asked Allah to make for me a plentiful share of this inheritance, so the Generous and Gracious One has fulfilled my wish and answered my request. My aim is to explain its hadiths and chapters and make it easy for its students. This is an intermediate explanation, disciplined according to the rules of the methodology of the righteous predecessors in receiving and deducing. I named it: The Delight of the Observers in Explaining Riyad as-Salihin. And Allah is the One Who is asked to make it sincere for Himself and in seeking His pleasure, and provision for a good destination, so it was to Him, and He promised it to make it a blessing to come to it. He is the guarantor of all good, and He is sufficient for me and the best Disposer of affairs. And here I am embarking on the intended goal, seeking help from the Forgiving, the Loving, mentioning an introduction that includes three chapters:

Chapter One: Mentioning the biography of al-Nawawi, may God be pleased with him.

Chapter Two: Mentioning the explanations of Riyad as-Salihin and their scientific value.

Chapter Three: The reason for this explanation, its methodology, and its sources.