Key Points

• Muslim scholars have been working on books to make Islamic teachings accessible to the general public for hundreds of years.
• Imam al-Tabrizi enhanced Masabih al-Sunnah and identified at the end of every Hadith the source or sources from where the particular Hadith was taken hence making the work more authoritative and reliable.
• The Mishkat, since its compilation, became a standard textbook for studying Hadith and also as an introductory sourcebook of Islamic Jurisprudence.
• Elzar Shariah Solution Sdn Bhd under the supervision of Sheikh Dr Zaharuddin have initiated the development of a smart application named, 'Masabih' to bring the Mishkat and its teachings to the Muslims in Malaysia.
• This application will be developed in one go and endowed to the public. It will be accessible and used for FREE by the public.
• Donations to this campaign will help the team build an app based on Mishkat al-Masabi along with its translation, explanation and grading. The app helps teach users hadith and fiqh based on authentic hadith.

Campaign Story

What Is The Book About?

Muslim scholars have been working on books to make Islamic teachings accessible to the general public for hundreds of years. One such endeavour has been the collection of Prophetic ahadith. Each compilation was unique and served a particular purpose. One such compilation was put forth by Imam al- Baghawi (561 AH) titled Masabih al-Sunnah.

To make the book more beneficial and accessible to the people, Imam Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Tibi advised one of his students, Imam Wali al-Din ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Tabrizi (749 AH) to write a commentary on Masabih al-Sunnah, and to work on all its shortcomings. Imam al-Tabrizi responded to the call of his teacher and his efforts bore fruit and the improved version of Masabih al-Sunnah came to be known as Mishkat al-Masabih (The Niche of Lamps).

Imam al-Tabrizi added 1,511 ahadith to the original number of ahadith in Masabih al-Sunnah, thus raising the total ahadith to 5,945. Imam al-Tabrizi has identified at the end of every Hadith the source or sources from where the particular Hadith was taken hence making the work more authoritative and reliable. The book contains ahadith from Bukhari, Muslim and other major books of Hadith.

Mishkat al-Masabih is divided into twenty-nine books (kutub). It has a total number of 327 chapters.

Importance of Mishkat al-Masabih

Mishkat al-Masabih is one of the most famous hadith compilations in Muslim history. Within a short period of time, it gained the acceptance of scholars and this was a contributing factor to its immense popularity. The extent of its popularity and value can be estimated by a large number of commentaries and translations that have appeared in due course in various languages. 

The Mishkat, since its compilation, became a standard textbook for studying Hadith and also an essential sourcebook of Islamic Jurisprudence. Many commentaries were written on it and it was subsequently translated into Farsi, Urdu and English. 

Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haythami al-Makki in his Fath al-Ilah admitted that the Mishkat was the best-arranged compilation during his time. The renowned scholar, Shah Wali Allah Dehlawi used to advise potential Muslim scholars to acquaint themselves with the Arabic language just so that they could be in a position to study the Mishkat. 

The Need Of The Hour

Despite the important standing of this book, there is no digital application that focuses on Mishkat al-Masabih. The book because of its content and structure, is perfect to be used as a virtual reference source. Keeping this in mind, Elzar Shariah Solution Sdn Bhd under the supervision of Sheikh Dr Zaharuddin bin Abdul Rahman has initiated the development of a smart application named, 'Masabih' to bring the Mishkat and its teachings to the Muslims in Malaysia. The application will help people to get access and information on matters relating to hadith and matters of fiqh as well as answers to questions based on authentic narrations.

Masabih's Web and Mobile Application hope to educate the Muslim community on the importance of hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. It aims to be a guide and reference for the Muslim community as a whole.

- This application will be developed in one go and endowed to the public. It will be accessible and used for FREE by the public.
- The application will simplify the process of searching for hadith and its applications 
- The team will translate all ahadith into Bahasa Malaysia. This will be accompanied by a brief explanation and the grading of the hadith.
- The team aims to facilitate students, Shariah scholars and the general public to refer to hadith sources and help them to complete their acts of worship through the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet.

This project will use the library method. The book that will be used as the main reference for building the Masabih.com application is Midraj ul-Fawatih. It is a rearrangement of the combination of two of the world's leading hadith books that have been translated into Malay, namely Masabih al-Sunnah and Mishkat al-Masabih.

• Appoint hadith translators & lecturers
• Identify and appoint reviewers on translations and lectures of hadith.
• Appointing scholars to identify the status of the strength of hadith and the substance of hadith from the angle of Sahih, Hasan or Dhoif.
• Appoint a hadith scholar to perform takhrij on all hadiths in the study.

The translation, explanation, as well as the grading of more than 6000 ahadith, is expected to take a year. So far, the team has raised nearly RM60,000 and started the task with about 3000 ahadith ready to be translated along with their explanation.

Cost Breakdown

The proposed cost for this project is quite high as it involves many external developers and researchers working on a strict timeline. This is also to ensure that the final product can run smoothly. It is estimated that the total cost for this project is RM 512,000.

1. Salary of Researcher, Supervisor and Manager for Takhrij Hadith (3 people): 
RM2,500 x 12 months = RM72,000

2. Data Entry Fees
6000 Ahadith x RM20: RM60,000

3. Book Translation Reviewer & Lecturer
6000 Ahadith x RM20: RM120,000

4. Hadith Translations & Status Checker
6000 Ahadith x RM20: RM120,000

5. Cost of Completion for Website & Mobile Apps Android and IOS
This includes Server, Hosting, Domain & Maintenance per year. The cost is RM120,000

6. Others - RM20,000

Grand Total: RM 512,000 

Start off with just RM100 and become a part of history with this landmark project that aims to service the Sunnah and become a waqf to help people study the religion for years to come. Every time that someone reads and benefits from this work, you get a reward for that.   The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Whoever guides someone to goodness will have a reward like one who did it.” [Muslim]   The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Know that whoever revives a tradition from my Sunnah if it has died out after me, he will have a reward like those who act upon it without diminishing any of their rewards. [Tirmidhi]