Every science has its beginners, and the wisest teachers have always known what to place first in their students' hands.

From a larger collection of Hadith known as Shifa al-Saqim (Healing the Spiritually Sick), al-Habib Umar bin Hafiz of Tarim, founder of Dar al-Mustafa, selected fifty-nine short, sound sayings of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ words brief enough for a child to memorise and deep enough to guide a lifetime.

This edition presents each Hadith in fully vowelled Arabic with a clear English translation, its sources referenced. Beneath every entry stands a reflection drawn from Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din, followed by points to ponder for private thought or the family table. In Tarim, one reading of the Ihya has always begun another; here, a beginner's first Hadiths are set beside the tradition's greatest manual of the heart.

The fifty-nine entries traverse the whole life of a believer: sincerity of intention, the secrets of prayer and congregation, remembrance and salawat, charity given in secret, honest earning and the lawful morsel, mercy at home and beautiful character abroad, the guarded tongue, the shared table, love of the Prophet ﷺ and his Household, the remembrance of death, and a good opinion of Allah at the last breath.