The words of Muhammad (d. 11 H/632 AD), God's messenger and prophet of Islam, have a special place in the hearts of his followers. Wielding an authority second only to the Qur'an, Muhammad s hadith are cited by scholars as testimonial texts in a vast array of disciplines including law, theology, metaphysics, poetry, grammar, history, and medicine and are quoted by Muslims to one another in their daily lives.
Assembling Muhammad s words has been a major preoccupation for scholars throughout the fourteen centuries since his death, resulting in an abundance of compilations. Among the legally-grounded collections, which aimed to guide the community in its practice of religious law and ritual worship, one which stands out in particular is Light in the Heavens (Kitab al-Shihab) by al-Qadi al-Quda'i (d. 454 H/1062 AD), a Shafi'i judge in the Fatimid court in Egypt. The collection s overall conceptualization is distinctively ethical and pragmatic, and offers humanitarian lessons and practical insights with universal appeal.
From North Africa to India, generations have used Light in the Heavens as a teaching text for children as well as adults, and many of its 1200 sayings are familiar to individuals of diverse denominations and ethnicities. For Muslims who consider Muhammad s teachings the fount of wisdom and the beacon of guidance in all things, mundane and sublime these sayings provide a direct window into the inspired vision of one of the most influential humans to have walked the Earth."