Al-Khayr wa al-Barakah fi al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah

(Good and Blessing in the Book and Sunnah)

Muhammad Muhammadi Rayshahri

With the collaboration of Mohammad Taqdiri,

1st ed., 2002, 360 pages, Arabic

Dar al-Hadith, Qom, Iran

The present work contains a coll­ection of Quranic verses and had­iths in which occur the two terms "khayr" (good) and "barakah" (ble­ssing) as well as their cognates and which deal with various creedal, et­hical, practical, political and social subjects. 

Khayr and barakah are among the most important issues in human culture. They are the objects of endeavors of all humans regar­dless of their religious affiliation, who try to remove the impe­diments in the way of achieving them. In the author's view, Is­lam is nothing but a calling to the good and the laying of the gro­und­work for its realization and the rem­oval of its barriers. It is owing to this fact that the Holy Quran and hadiths are replete with the cognates and sy­nonyms of the terms khayr and ba­rakah, relating to various creedal, eth­ical, practical, political and social is­s­ues. The author's aim is to bring the­se religious texts together in a single volume and thus make them accessible to researchers and those interested in the subject. He attempts to collect all of the hadiths relating to the subject from both Shi`ite and Sunni sources, and presents the references in the footnotes. On ace­ssions, he tries to establish a kind of authenticity of a hadith by approving it via the help of rational and traditional indications. 

The book is arranged into two parts devoted to khayr and barakah, respectively. Each part is further divided into several chapters. It starts with a preface which discusses such topics as the ability of man to recognize good and evil based on his inn­ate nature, calling to the absolute good and knowledge, enjoin­ing good deeds, calling to the absolute birr (good deed), the judgment of pure human conscience, the value of the judgments of the people as compared with the judgment of the conscience, the evaluation of hadiths by the conscience, and the need of int­ellect and conscience for revelation.

In part one, the author examines the notion of khayr (good), the recognition of khayr, enjoining khayr, and the means and consequences of good deeds and obstacles in the way of their performance, based on the Holy Quran and Hadith.

Part two discusses the Quranic verses and hadiths that relate to the factors contributing to the realization of khayr and bar­akah and impediments in their way. Each chapter opens with the Quranic verses, the hadiths of the Holy Prophet (PB­UH), and those of the Infallible Imams (PBUT), as reported in Shi`ite and Sunni sources.

The Persian translation of the work, along with its Arabic text, is published with the following bibliographical data: Khayr and Barakah in the Holy Quran and Hadith, trans. Javad Moh­addesi, Qom: Dar al-Hadith, 2003, 664 pages. 

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