THE FORTY AHSAN AL-HADITH PROJECT

 

For the last few years, I have been researching, reflecting upon, and collecting a set of Qur'anic verses that have profoundly shaped my life. Today, I am finally ready to begin sharing them.

The working title is:

Forty Ahsan al-Hadith
Forty Qur'anic Verses That Shaped My Life

Over the coming months, I will be sharing forty Qur'anic verses that have inspired, guided, challenged, comforted, and shaped me throughout my life.

This is a project that has been quietly taking shape in my mind and research over the last few years.

The Qur'an has accompanied me through poverty and prosperity, success and failure, certainty and doubt, youth and old age. Like many Muslims, I have turned to its guidance in moments of joy, confusion, gratitude, and hardship.

Every verse of the Qur'an is important. Every verse contains guidance, wisdom, and signs for those who reflect.

This project is therefore not about discussing the basic teachings of Islam as we commonly know them today. Rather, it is about sharing forty Qur'anic verses that have had a profound impact on my own life and understanding.

These are the verses that have shaped me as a son, sibling, friend, corporate professional, entrepreneur, Malaysian, and Muslim. They have influenced how I think, how I lead, how I relate to others, and how I understand and practise my faith and my place in the world.

I hope to share these reflections not only with Muslims, but also with non-Muslims, agnostics, and atheists. You do not have to agree with my conclusions to join the conversation. Curiosity, reflection, and respectful dialogue are enough.

Some readers may notice the title uses the phrase Ahsan al-Hadith (أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ). The title comes from the Qur'an itself.

Allah says:

"Allah has sent down the best Hadith (أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ): a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills. And one whom Allah leaves astray, for him there is no guide."

(Qur'an 39:23, Saheeh International)

In this project, I will use the spelling Hadith when referring to the Qur'anic term hadith, meaning discourse, narrative, speech, or message. When referring to the collected sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, I will use the spelling Hadeeth. This is simply a writing convention to help readers distinguish between the two usages.

This project is not intended to be a formal work of tafsir. However, wherever relevant, I will draw upon classical and contemporary tafsir, Qur'anic scholarship, and the Arabic language itself. I plan to explore root words within each verse, drawing from Qur'anic dictionaries and linguistic sources to better understand the meanings, nuances, and insights embedded in the text.

I will also examine how the Hadeeth literature has understood, explained, or related to the verses under discussion. Where relevant, I will explore what the major Hadeeth collections and broader Islamic scholarly discussions have said about a particular verse and its application.

These reflections will therefore be personal, but they will also be informed by the rich intellectual tradition that Muslims have inherited over the centuries.

In many ways, this project is also an invitation to spend more time with the Qur'an itself. Not merely to recite it, but to reflect upon it, engage with it, learn from it, and allow it to shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

Why Forty?

I chose the number forty because I am inspired by the Arba'in tradition in Muslim history. Beginning as early as the second and third centuries of Islam, Muslim scholars started compiling collections of forty Hadeeth on various themes for the benefit of the community.

Among the earlier examples were collections associated with scholars such as Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (8th century CE / 2nd century AH). The tradition continued to grow through the works of scholars such as Imam al-Ajurri (10th century CE / 4th century AH) and Imam al-Bayhaqi (11th century CE / 5th century AH), among many others.

The most famous of all is undoubtedly the Forty Hadeeth of Imam al-Nawawi (13th century CE / 7th century AH), a work that continues to be studied throughout the Muslim world today.

Those collections gathered forty sayings of the Prophet ﷺ. This project seeks to draw inspiration from that tradition by gathering forty verses from the Qur'an itself, which Allah describes as Ahsan al-Hadith (The Best Hadith).

There were collections of forty Hadeeth before Imam al-Nawawi, and many more after him. For nearly a thousand years, Muslim scholars have used the Arba'in format to gather and share teachings they believed would benefit the community. I see this project as a humble attempt to draw inspiration from that rich tradition, but this time based on the Qur'an, which Allah Himself describes as Ahsan al-Hadith.

Most importantly, these are my forty Ahsan al-Hadith (أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ), forty Qur'anic verses that have profoundly impacted my life. You may have a different forty. In fact, I hope you do.

One of my hopes is that this project will encourage other Muslims to identify and share their own forty Ahsan al-Hadith from their own list of Qur'anic verses that shaped their lives.

Imagine a lawyer writing about the forty Qur'anic verses that shaped his understanding of justice.

Imagine a teacher sharing the forty verses that influenced her approach to education.

Imagine doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, civil servants, artists, AI specialists, social workers, and parents reflecting on the verses that guided them in their respective fields and life journeys.

Each person's forty may be different. Yet together, they would demonstrate the timeless ability of the Qur'an to speak to human beings across different professions, cultures, experiences, and generations.

One of the goals of this project is therefore to encourage all of us to reflect on which verses have most influenced our own lives. Which verses have shaped our character, our decisions, our relationships, our understanding of God, and our understanding of ourselves?

The Qur'an repeatedly invites us to think, reflect, observe, learn, and engage with the world around us. That invitation is open to everyone.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you, one verse at a time, and perhaps inspiring you to discover your own Forty Ahsan al-Hadith.

As always, I welcome your thoughts, feedback, questions, disagreements, and suggestions. If a particular verse has profoundly shaped your life, I would be delighted to hear about it.

Peace,

Anas Zubedy

The first Ahsan al-Hadith will be shared soon.

Question: If you had to choose just one Qur'anic verse that has most influenced your life, what would it be and why?