Risalat al-yawaqit al-taminat fi al-ahadit al-qadiyat bi-zuhur sikkat al-hadid wa-wusuliha ila al-Madinat.

4to. 90 pp. Contemporary half cloth over marbled boards. Only edition. Entitled "Precious Stones on the Hadiths that lead to the emergence of the railway and its arrival to Medina", this curious and rare Algerian-published treatise seeks to reconcile the building of the Hejaz Railway with the Islamic faith. In a section entitled "Clear evidence of indications of modern inventions in the Qur'an", e.g., Kattani argues that Surah 16:8 ("He also created horses, mules, and donkeys for your transportation and adornment, and He may create things [to ride] that you do not know") predicts the appearance of unimagined modes of transport, including steam-powered vehicles such as locomotives. Other parts (p. 81) specifically identify the cutting of track beds and the boring of tunnels through the landscape with a prophetic hadith about the disappearance of mountains. "Al-Kattani's work in particular reflects the interests of adherents of various traditions to come to terms with a world changing rapidly with technology" (Simonowitz). - Binding a little rubbed along extremeties, traces of old spine labels. Old annotation to front endpaper. Very slight traces of worming to interior of covers near the gutter, otherwise in excellent condition. - OCLC 29782213. David Simonowitz, "The Mobile Matrix: The Hijaz Railway as Ritual Space and Generator of Space". International Journal of Islamic Architecture 3.2 (July 2014), pp. 303-340.