The Heirs of The Prophets (Peace be upon them)

The Heirs of the Prophet is an extraordinary book representing one of the many streams of traditional Islamic scholarship. In addition to huge multi-volume compendiums, many scholars also composed shorter treatises that focused, for example, on one particular hadith. This volume is such a work. Imam Ibn Rajab, who is considered one of the foremost authorities of Prophetic tradition (hadith) of his day, wrote this deeply inspiring and ever-relevant commentary on one hadith of the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) in which he said, "The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets." Ibn Rajab was able to bring together the ethics, authentic stories, and penetrating insights that relate to the noble enterprise of true learning.

This book achieves two major triumphs. First, it inspires in the serious reader the love and desire to gain true knowledge, and it enlightens people as to what realm of knowledge holds firm sovereignty over all the rest. Second, it unabashedly strips away any pretension as to what measures as true scholarship within the realm of Islamic learning itself. These pretensions have flourished to the point that it is difficult for most people today to distinguish between a preacher and a scholar, between technique and deep comprehension. The great scholar Imam Ibn Rajab, in this book composed in the eighth Islamic century, says, "The uninformed person cannot conceptualize the essence of knowledge nor its sublimity. One who fails to conceptualize something, its significance will never become rooted in the heart." The Heirs of the Prophets is an eloquent and persuasive advocate of restoring our sense of priority when it comes to the acquisition of knowledge and, as a consequence, the conduct of our lives.


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