Kitab Ash-shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa, (Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen one), of Qadi 'Iyad (d. 544H / 1149CE) is perhaps the most frequently used and commented upon handbook in which the Prophet's life, his qualities and his miracles are described in every detail. Generally known by its short title, Ash-Shifa, this work was so highly admired throughout the Muslim world that it soon acquired a sanctity of its own for it is said: "If Ash-Shifa is found in a house, this house will not suffer any harm...when a sick person reads it or it is recited to him, Allah s.w.t., will restore his health."

About Author:

Qadi Iyad ibn Musa (1083–1149) born in Ceuta, then belonging to the Almoravid Empire, was the great imam of that city and, later, a high judge (qadi) in Granada. Qadi Iyaḍ was born into an established family of Arab origin in Ceuta. As a scion of a notable scholarly family, ʿIyad was able to learn from the best teachers Ceuta had to offer. The judge Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad b. ʿIsa (d. 505/1111) was ʿIyad’s first important teacher and is credited with his basic academic formation. Growing up, ʿIyad benefited from the traffic of scholars from al-Andalus, the Maghrib, and the eastern Islamic world. He became a prestigious scholar in his own right and won the support of the highest levels of society.
He was one of the most famous scholars of Maliki law and author of the well-known Ash-Shifa on the virtues of the prophet and Tartib al-mardarik wa-taqrib al-masalik li-marifat alam madhab Malik, a collection of biographies of eminent Malikis, a.o. Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi.

About Translator:

Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley, born 1948 in the United States. She holds a BA in French and MA in Near Eastern Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. She spent a year with a fellowship at the American University in Cairo and at the same time attended a seminar on Sufism and Islamic philosophy at Dar al-’Ulum. She is a student of Shaykh Abdalqadir al-Murabit, and also studied Ibn ‘Arabi with the late Sidi Fudul al-Hurawi in Fes, Morocco.

Aisha Bewley converted to Islam in 1968. She is the author and translator of many published and unpublished works, some available on her website. She is married to Hajj Abdalhaqq Bewley with whom she often translates and mother of three children.