Shamail Recital in Istanbul

HADITH RECITAL IN ISTANBUL 1441 AH | 2019 CE

SHAMAIL AL-HABIB AL-MUSTAFA ﷺ

With Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

EVENT

In Rabi’ al-Awwal 1441 | November 5 2019, Shaykh Muhammad Abul Huda Al-Yaqoubi – hafidhahullah  – completed the recital of Shamail al-Habib al-Mustafa, hadith book compiled by him, in Başakşehir, İstanbul in Abdulhamid Han Mosque.

The recital was completed in one day, beginning after ‘Asr and continuing after Isha until the midnight for 9 hours with breaks for prayer. About 600 students attended, men and women, Turks and Arabs. Amongs the attendees were well known figures like Cübbeli Ahmet Hocaefendi and Fatih Çıtlak Beyefendi.

A Mawlid for the khatam took place just after the recital. Cübbeli Ahmet Hocaefendi and Fatih Çıtlak beyefendi gave speeches and made dua. A group of munshids, refreshed the spirits with Arabic and Turkish qasidas and salawat.

Finally Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi – may Allah preserve him – made dua and gave ijaza to all those present.

IMPACT

The event was livestreamed on YouTube and recorded by several media representatives. After the event, Shaykh Muhammad Abul Huda Al-Yaqoubi addressed one of them with the following words:

The greatest need of the Ummah today is to return to the character of the Prophet ﷺ. Mercy is lost in the hearts, trust is lost. His ﷺ character is good relationships with children, wife, neighbours, at work, in shops – we want people to return to the character of the Prophet ﷺ and to his ﷺ beautiful traits – his ﷺ Shamail.
With this recital, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi connected the attendees to the tradition of hadith recitals and also taught adab of listening hadith to the students. To show full adab towards Allah, His Messenger ﷺ, the mosque, the books and the teacher, listening in silence, sitting in front of the teacher in a position like in tashahhud with full attention, showing him respect and complying with his requests.
His way of speech, approach to students and adab with the Prophet ﷺ conveyed the love of the Prophet ﷺ from the heart to the hearts of students – it was not a mere transmission words from the mouth to the ears. As he said in one of his poems:

وٓرِوَايَةٍ بِالعَنْعَنَاتِ لِبٓعْضِ مَا ***
أَجْرَى الإِلَهُ مِنَ الحَدِيثِ بِهِ فَمَكْ

فَأَقُولُ : حَدَّثَنَا ، وَأَخْبَرَنَا ، وَمَا ***
قَصْدِي بِمَا أَرْوي سِوَىٰ أَنْ أَذْكُرَكْ

أَرْجُو بِذَا مِنْكَ الشَّفَاعَةَ فِي غَدٍ ***
لِأنَالَ فِي دَارِ المُقَامَةِ صُحْبَتَكْ

ABOUT THE BOOK

Shama’il al-Habib al-Mustafa is an Arabic Hadith compilation written for the contemporary audience to clearly demonstrate “what would the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ do” in any given situation.

In total over 500 hadiths are compiled and divided into 12 chapters, each representing an aspect of the Prophet’s beauty, character and way of life. Each section begins with Ayat from the Quran relating to the topic. 

The book is structured in a way that will benefit a general audience. Only the soundest hadiths are presented on each subject, omitting variant narrations and chains of transmission in favour of covering a more extensive range of topics. 

In this regard it resembles Imam al-Nawawi’s Riyadh as-Salihin, while containing a similar number of hadiths as the Shamail of Al-Tirmidhi.

PAST RECITALS

Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi recited and explained Shamail al-Habib al-Mustafa for the first time in Birmingham UK in December 2017.

He recited Al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyya of Imam al-Tirmidhi 16 times – to mention some: in Central Mosque of Manhattan, New York in Ramadan 2004 | 1425, then after Eid again in Pittsburg, US; then the following summer 2005 | 1426 in the Rihla program in Madina, then he began teaching and commenting upon it in the Mosque of Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi in Damascus from the beginning of year 2007 | 1428 and onwards.