A Library of Classical Islamic Texts

Compiled by the eminent ḥadīth scholar Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bayhaqī, al-Arbaʿūn al-Sughrā (The Lesser Forty Ḥadīths) is a concise guide to spiritual and ethical formation built around 125 narrations arranged in forty thematic chapters. Beginning with faith, repentance, and sincerity, the collection proceeds through topics such as steadfastness, remembrance of Allah, righteous companionship, humility, and noble character, offering a practical framework for embodying Prophetic teachings in daily life. This bilingual edition presents the complete Arabic text with full vocalization alongside an English translation of both the chains of transmission (isnāds) and the narrations themselves, together with source documentation (takhrīj), paragraph numbering, explanatory notes, a glossary of key terms, and comprehensive indices.

This volume presents the first English translation of Imām Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī’s Kitāb al-Arbaʿīn fī Taṣḥīḥ al-Muʿāmala (The Book of Forty Ḥadīths on the Rectification of Conduct), a classic collection devoted to the cultivation of character and spiritual refinement. Comprising fifty-six Prophetic reports arranged across forty thematic chapters, the work addresses foundational virtues such as repentance, sincerity, remembrance of Allah, humility, patience, and reliance upon Him. This bilingual edition features the complete Arabic text with full vocalization alongside an English translation of both the chains of transmission (isnāds) and the narrations themselves, together with source documentation (takhrīj), paragraph numbering, explanatory notes, a glossary of key terms, and comprehensive indices.