ابن قيم الجوزية

The shaykh Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, a Hanbali of Damascus, author of I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in (Informing the Signatories) on behalf of the Lord of the Worlds. ²

Haji Khalifa gives his death as 751 AH. The conversion to the Gregorian calendar is derived. ² Among his works is I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in. ²

He is counted among the teachers of Ibn Rajab. ³

The Sheikh explains that the nisba al-Jawziyya comes from a city of that name, and that Ibn al-Qayyim's father was its custodian (qayyim), which is why he was known as Ibn al-Qayyim (the Sheikh's explanation; needs_source: no source given in the lecture). ^{4 5}

The Sheikh holds that the choice fell on Ibn al-Qayyim's book al-Fawa'id because of its influence on the souls of many readers, the Sheikh among them. ⁶

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy says that neglecting the obligations loses the voluntary acts, which are the cause of the servant's love for his Lord, and he attributes to Ibn al-Qayyim a saying on this (needs_source: the attribution is as the sheikh gives it) ⁷. He recounts from Ibn al-Qayyim that the road back to the Paradise from which humanity was expelled passes through the valley of those who pray at night (needs_source) ⁸.

He recounts that Ibn al-Qayyim described his teacher Ibn Taymiyya as one who subdued his desire until desire no longer ruled him (needs_source: the description is paraphrased) ^{9 10}.

He recounts that when Ibn al-Qayyim was asked how one can know that a speech is true, he answered that truth has a radiance of its own (needs_source: the answer as the sheikh gives it) ¹¹.

Tareq al-Suwaidan presents Ibn al-Qayyim — Ibn Taymiyya's greatest student — as a creator whose rare gift was the craft of masterful authorship, distinguishing his surname: 'qayyim of the Jawziyya' means overseer of the Jawziyya school his father supervised ^{12 13}. Of his life: born 7 Safar 691 AH into a learned family, he kept to Ibn Taymiyya until counted his heir and the authority on the school after him; Ibn Hajar described him as 'bold-hearted, broad of wisdom, learned and versed in the scholars' disagreements' ^{14 15}. He used his sojourns at Mecca for authorship, saying of Miftah Dar al-Sa'ada it was 'among the gifts God opened upon me in my retreat to Him at His house'; and he composed on his journeys Zad al-Ma'ad, Rawdat al-Muhibbin, Bada'i' al-Fawa'id and Tahdhib Sunan Abi Dawud — so how much did he write while settled ^{16 17 18}. He was an avid collector of books: over a hundred references stand behind Ijtima' al-Juyush al-Islamiyya, and some thirty titles behind Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimma ^{19 20 21}. Of his stands: he gave fatwas on Ibn Taymiyya's positions — among them that a triple divorce uttered in one sitting counts as one, now the settled view (the speaker notes) — and was imprisoned for denouncing the saddling of mounts to the Friend's tomb, as his student Ibn Rajab reports ^{22 23 24}. Of his character: Ibn Kathir described him 'fine of character, envying none, harming none, hating none'; and of his wisdom 'whoever wrongs you then comes apologising, humility obliges you to accept his excuse even if hollow, leaving his conscience to God' ^{25 26}. Of his worship: Ibn Rajab said 'he was given to worship, night prayer and the longest salah; devoted to remembrance, passionate for God's love — I never saw broader in knowledge nor more knowing of the meanings of Qur'an and Sunna; he is not infallible, but I have seen none like him'; imprisoned with Ibn Taymiyya in the citadel he occupied himself with recitation and contemplation and was released only after his shaykh's death ^{27 28 29}. After the dawn prayer he sat remembering God until sunrise, saying 'this is my morning provision; were I to miss it my powers would fail'; and his maxim 'through patience and certainty is leadership in religion attained' ^{30 31}. He derives from him a method of authorship: mastery of the subject first (the speaker advises reading fifty to seventy books before writing), then teaching it before composing, then fine division and indexing — contrasting him with Ibn al-Jawzi: Ibn al-Qayyim the scholar of precise writing, Ibn al-Jawzi nearer the preacher ^{32 33 34}. He closes: Ibn al-Qayyim follows Ibn Taymiyya in method and principles yet is distinctive in his subjects — and among God's greatest gifts to a scholar is a student who immortalises his views ^{35 36}.