The is a book of prayers and devotional observances. Among the religious traditions of humanity the Imami Shi'ah tradition within Islam is unmatched in its rich corpus of devotional texts (
du'a
and
ziyarah
literature) handed down from the original leaders of the faith, the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams of his family, the
Ahl al-Bayt
.The
Mafatih al-Jinan
is the most popular manual of Islamic devotional observances and prayer-texts by
Shaykh Abbas Qummi
, which draws its contents from well-known, reliable sources. As a manual of devotional literature, the
follows a long tradition established by the
Misbah al-Mutahajjid
of Shaykh Tusi (d. 460/1067) and followed up in the works of Sayyid Ibn Tawus (d. 664/1265), Kaf'ami (d. 905/1499) and others. Most of the contents of the
Mafatih
are drawn from these earlier works. Since its publication, the
has enjoyed an uncontested popularity among Farsi-speaking Muslims, and its Arabic and Urdu versions are widely used by the devout in the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent.