Comparing Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah & Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj

Review by Shaykh Abu Asim Badrul Islam

A very brief comparison of the two famous commentaries by ῾Allāmah Abu Bakr al-Ḥaddādi al-Yamāni (d. 800 AH) on the Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūri – Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirahand Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj

Title:  Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj al-Muwaḍḍiḥu li kulli Ṭālibin wa Muḥtāj

Author:  ῾Allāmah Abu Bakr ibn ῾Ali ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥaddādi al-Ḥanafi (d. 800 AH)

Editor:  ῾Abd al-Muḥsin Ṭā Hā Yūnus al-῾Abādi

Genre:  Fiqh according to the Ḥanafi school of law

Publisher:  Dār Ibn Ḥazm (Beirut) and Maktabah Amīr (Kirkuk, Iraq)

Year of publication:  1446/2025 (1^st edition)

Number of volumes:  13

الجوهرة النيّرة

المؤلف : العلّامة أبو بكر بن علي بن محمد الحدّادي الحنفي ت (800 هـ)

المحقق : سائد بكداش

الموضوع : الفقه على مذهب السادة الحنفية 

الناشر : شركة دراسات (دوحة) و أروقة (عمّان) 

سنة النشر : 1436 هـ _ 2015م 

رقم الطبعة : 1

عدد المجلدات : 6

Title:  Jawharat al-Nayyirah

Author:  ῾Allāmah Abu Bakr ibn ῾Ali ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥaddādi al-Ḥanafi (d. 800 AH)

Editor:  Sā᾽id Bakdāsh

Genre:  Fiqh according to the Ḥanafi school of law

Publisher:  Dirāsāt (Doha) and Arwiqah (Amman)

Year of publication:  1436/2015 (1^st edition)

Number of volumes:  6

الجوهرة النيّرة و السراج الوهّاج

• Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj is more detailed and in-depth (e.g., commentary of a sentence is done in 2 pages of Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah and in 5 pages of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj).
• Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj was written first then summarised in Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah(13 volumes Vs. 4/6 volumes)
• Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj contains a lot of juz᾽iyyāt, which are highly interesting and beneficial.
• One who has Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj can do without Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah.
• Shaykh Sā᾽id Bakdāsh’s edition of Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah compares much better than the Maktabah Amīr and Dār Ibn Ḥazm edition of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj – for instance, better quality thick paper (although, Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj has been published on Dār Ibn Ḥazm’s standard good quality paper), it contains far less errors in the text, it has much better modern Arabic punctuation marks and paragraphing, better placed and accurate sub-headings added in square brackets by the editor (Shaykh Sā᾽id Bakdāsh). Contrastingly, the Maktabah Amīr and Dār Ibn Ḥazm edition of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj has sentences of the same discussion separated into two paragraphs, when it should have been continuous.
• The (مقدمة التحقيق) of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj contains easily avoidable typographical errors.
• Many of the modern Arabic punctuation marks in Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj seem to have been placed without much thought.
• The editor of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj could have done better in citing references in the footnotes. The author mentions countless references throughout Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj. The editor could have referred to easily accessible manuscripts or published works, but he does not. Often, the author references a certain book, but the editor references a different one in his footnote (when he could have made the effort to reference the same one as the author).
• The editor of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj cites Al-Muḥiṭ al-Burhāni a lot. He gives reference to the incomplete (by less than half the book) 9-volume Dār al-Kutub al-῾Ilmiyyah edition, instead of the 25-volume Idārat al-Qur᾽ān edition.
• Sometimes, the editor references Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah!
• Sometimes, the editor references Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūri!

Positive features of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj include:

• I find the font type, font size, quantity of text per page, sparse amount of tashkīland i῾rāb pleasing.
• Like their other publications, Dār Ibn Ḥazm have kept the price reasonable and affordable.

Abu Asim Badrul Islam
Northampton
ENGLAND
07 Sha῾bān 1447/27 January 2026

Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah (6 volumes), edited by Shaykh Dr. Sā᾽id Bakdāsh.

Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah (4 volumes), edited by Shaykh ῾Abd al-Salām ῾Abd al-Hādi Shannār.

Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj al-Mūḍiḥu li Kulli Ṭālibin wa Muḥtāj (13 volumes), edited by Dr. ῾Abd al-Muḥsin Ṭā Hā Yūnus al-῾Abādi.

Front cover of Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj al-Mūḍiḥu li Kulli Ṭālibin wa Muḥtā

Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj and Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah placed side-by-side.

Sample pages from Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah. See the beginning of the same section of the commentary in Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj below.

Sample pages from Al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj showing the beginning of the commentary of the same section as shown in the previous photo from Al-Jawharat al-Nayyirah.