In the desire to acquire sound Islamic knowledge and please Allah, there can be no more essential guide than sound morals and manners (ādāb). Any education that is not built upon the foundations of ādāb is bound to crumble or lead astray. This primacy of applied ethics in the Islam worldview can perhaps be best gauged by the erudite hadith and fiqh master ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubarak’s (may Allah shower him with His mercy) narration from his teacher, Mukhlid ibn al-Ḥusayn, who once remarked, “We are more in need of acquiring adab than learning hadith.”

Amongst the scholars whose writings reflect this emphasis on social etiquette and manners was Imām Muḥammad Mawlūd (d. 1905), the renowned 19th century Mauritanian reviver of the faith. Other than his Maṭharat al-Qulūb (Purification of the Heart) made famous in the English-speaking world by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s translation and lectures, Imam Mawlūd authored a long list of texts on ādāb, including the Maḥārim al-Lisān (Prohibitions of the Tongue), a text on the adab of hosting guests, one on the adab of seeking knowledge, one on eating, and another on the adab of the masjid. Continue reading →