Umdat al-Salik wa Uddat al-Nasik
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'Umdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik (Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper, also commonly known by its shorter title Reliance of the Traveller) is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. The author of the main text is Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, who based his work on the previous Shafi'i works of Imam Nawawi and Imam Abu Ishaq as-Shirazi. Ibn Naqib follows the order of Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab (The Rarefaction) and the conclusions of Nawawi's Minhaj at-Talibin (The Seeker's Road). This work consists of the soundest positions of the Shafi'i school.
The book was translated by the American Muslim scholar Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller in 1991 and became the first translation of a standard Islamic legal reference in a European language to be certified by Al-Azhar. Nuh included three introductory sections before the main work to form a user's guide to fiqh, as well as eight major appendices after the main work that consist of various topics, ranging from personal ethics and character to Islamic spirituality, for example traditional Islamic Sufism, and tenets of faith. There is also a biographical section that lets the readers know who the figures mentioned throughout the book's legal texts are.
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Certain sections of the book were left untranslated (although the original Arabic text is retained), as Nuh considered them irrelevant to modern societies. These parts include a section on slavery, describing the rights and duties of slaves and their masters, as well as some smaller sections such as, for example, a discussion on fixing utensils using gold. Critics argue that Nuh did not translate the section on slavery in order not to offend modern sensitivities. However, the question of slavery in Islam in modern times is one which most traditional scholars consider of only theoretical interest, as the practice is no longer prevalent. Some critics argue that Nuh left the sections untranslated since the topic of sexual rights of male masters over female slaves in Islam hurts modern sensitivities.
Many additions have been made to the book as well. Sections from other famous classical Islamic texts (like Imam Al-Ghazzali's Ihya' 'ulum al-din and Imam Nawawi's Riyadh as-Saaliheen) have been incorporated into the book. A complete section on Sufism has been added as well.
