Book Review: Qatf al-Janaa ad-Daanee

Qatf al-Janaa ad-Daanee Sharh Muqaddimah Risaalah Ibn Abee Zayd al-Qayrawaanee
By: ash-Shaykh ‘Abdul-Muhsin Hamad al-‘Abbaad al-Badr
Printed by: Daar al-Aaathaar
Hardback
Pages: 184

The Muhaddith of Madinah, ash-Shaykh ‘Abdul-Muhsin al-‘Abbaad, may Allah protect him from every evil and harm, explains Ibn Abee Zayd’s classical text on ‘Aqeedah. The text itself is part of a bigger work of Aboo ‘Abdullah Aboo Muhammad bin Abee Zayd from al-Qayrawaan(died in 386 A.H.) entitled ar-Risaalah al-Fiqihiyyah. Ibn Zayd was the Imam of the Maalakiyyah of his time and known as Maalik Sagheer (the little Imam Maalik).

Shaykh ‘Abdul-Muhsin gives an introduction, a short biography of the author, and then ten points concerning the creed of the four Imams and answers some doubts of the ‘Ashaairah and other deviant sects. Interestingly, a lot of what we hear Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shaakir, and Suhaib Webb propagating in the name of the ‘Asharees there in the West is dismantled in the Shaykh’s knowledge-based points. Then after this the Shaykh includes ash-Shaykh Ahmad bin Musharraf al-Ahsaa’ee al-Maalikee’s (died in 1285 A.H.) poem form of the text. The full text is also included as reference.

The Shaykh’s explanation is conveyed in simple Arabic and could be benefited by student of knowledge or layperson. May Allah reward the Shaykh for clarifying the creed of the Salaf. The printing ends with a detailed index of the entire book.

While the font is nice and the layout is good the quality of the book is poor. The inside of the binding is falling apart and the book was cut crooked. When I purchased it, I sifted through a stack of them and found all of them to be of poor quality, I actually picked the best looking one. I bought it new from Daar-ut-Tadmurriyyah here in Riyadh.