Mi'raj al-sa'ada (book)
|Author||Mulla Ahmad Naraqi|
|Original title||معراج السعاده|
|Genre||Intellectual and Hadith|
Mi'raj al-sa'ada (Arabic: معراج السعاده) is a book in Arabic in Islamic ethics with an intellectual and traditional approach written by Mulla Ahmad Naraqi (Naraqi Thani). The author has compiled it in 5 parts; in which, he has explained moral issues with an intellectual approach. Mi'raj al-sa'ada can be considered a Persian summary of Jami' al-sa'adat written by Mulla Mahdi Naraqi; but, it has many differences. Muhaddith Qummi summarized Mi'raj al-sa'ada.
- Main article: Mulla Ahmad Naraqi
Ahmad b. Muhammad Mahdi b. Abi Dhar Naraqi, known as Fadil Naraqi, son of Mulla Mahdi Naraqi was among Shi'a scholars of 13th century AH. He was born in Naraq and passed his primary education with his father. He then went to the holy cities in Iraq and studied under teachers such as Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Bahr al-'Ulum, Mirza Mahdi Shahristani, Shaykh Ja'far Kashif al-Ghita and Sahib Riyad (author of Riyad). After his father passed away, Mulla Ahmad Naraqi became the general religious authority of the people of his area. He had many works in different Islamic sciences. His most famous works are Mustanad al-Shi'a and 'Awa'id al-ayyam in fiqh and Mi'raj al-sa'ada in ethics. He passed away in Kashan and his body was moved to Najaf and was buried in the shrine of Imam Ali (a).
Differences with Jami' al-Sa'adat
Mi'raj al-sa'ada can be considered a persian summary of Jami' al-sa'adat in which the author has explained moral issues with an intellectual approach. However, Mi'raj al-sa'ada is not just a translation and summary of Jami' al-sa'adat. It has differences with Jami' al-sa'adat and in many cases, general and brief issues in Jami' al-sa'adat have been explained in Mi'raj al-sa'ada.
The major difference between Jami' al-sa'adat and Mi'raj al-sa'ada is that its intellectual reasoning, argument, and approach are more evident. Also, Mi'raj al-sa'ada has added to the traditional and directive aspects of discussions. Since Mi'raj al-sa'ada is written for common people, the author has tried to present discussions using traditional evidence or a combination of reason and tradition, together with poems in a simple and attractive language, free from scientific complications. Thus, there are more verses and hadiths used in Mi'raj al-sa'ada than Jami' al-sa'adat.
Categorization and the order of chapters and titles of the books are also different in some ways; for example, the first part of Jami' al-sa'adat has 16 chapters, but the first part of Mi'raj al-sa'ada has 10 chapters, in three of which, the titles are common and in two of them, the content is common. Thus, some of the chapters of Jami' al-sa'adat cannot be found in Mi'raj al-sa'ada and also, some of the chapters of Mi'raj al-sa'ada do not exist in Jami' al-sa'adat.
Parts of the Book
The book has five parts, each of which has several chapters:
- Part one: on mentioning beneficial primary issues, and it is comprised of 10 chapters.
- Part two: on the reason of the spoilage of morals and mentioning the faculties of the self, and it is comprised of 8 chapters.
- Part three: on keeping good morals away from deviations and curing all bad morals. It is comprised of 3 chapters.
- Part four: on the explanation of good and reprehensible morals and their benefits and damages and the way of achieving good morals and curing bad ones.
- Part five: om mentioning the levels of obedience and worship and their manners and requirements which have seven goals.
Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi wrote a summary of Mi'raj al-sa'ada and titled it, al-Maqalat al-'iliyya dar 'ilm akhlaq.
- The material for this article is mainly taken from معراج السعاده in Farsi WikiShia.