al-Wasiyya – The Advice of the Esteemed Scholar pdf download

al-Wasiyya – The Advice of the Esteemed Scholar by Muwaffaq Ad-Dīn Ibn Qudāma Almaqdisī

al-Wasiyya – The Advice of the Esteemed Scholar by Muwaffaq Ad-Dīn Ibn Qudāma Almaqdisī

Book Contents

• Author’s Preface  
• Section: Hastening to Act  
• A Metaphor Illustrating This World and Its People  
• Section: Things Which Invalidate Good Deeds  
• Contempt for a Muslim  
• Opposing the Sunnah  
• Responsibility and Consequences  
• Excellent Actions  
• Humble Supplication  
• Intimate Conversation with Him  
• Seeking Something You Need  
• The Istikhāra Prayer  
• The Awliyā’ of Allāh  
• In the Depth of the Night  
• End of His Advice

Introduction

Dimashqī al-Ḥanbalī. His advice is extraordinarily succinct and revolves around the actions of the heart, in which sincerity settles, and by which taqwā becomes established.

If people wish to apply it, they will find great good in it and by it they can put that which is clearly crooked straight, hurry to right actions, avoid those things that render actions corrupt, be watchful of their behavior in word and deed, reflect on the outcomes of their actions and be at peace with what Allāh loves and which pleases Him.

It is a treatise of instruction and faith of the first degree, and it is enough that it comes from the heart so that it pours into the heart.

It is enough for you that it is advice from a scholar who combined knowledge with fear, knowing the path of this world and the Next, traveled the path of asceticism, contentment, and abstinence, and wrote books that are highly esteemed and that have been passed on for centuries, especially his book al-Mughnī which fully covers Ḥanbalī fiqh.

The position of al-Waṣiyyah necessitates that we provide some information about the author so that the physical and spiritual form of al-Waṣiyyah and its author be clear in one’s mind and soul.

 Otherwise, I would not have felt compelled to give his biography, since he is a famous scholar and his books are well known.

 The prefaces to his books almost never fail to give much information about him.

The author was born in Jammāʿīl, one of the villages around the city of Nablus, in 541 AH in a family known for knowledge and right action. He immigrated with his family to Damascus when he was ten. He memorized the Noble Qur’ān and he memorized the Mukhtaṣar al-Khirqī on fiqh, and he listened to ḥadīth from his father and others, and read aloud to great shaykhs.

Then he traveled to Baghdad and stayed there for four years seeking knowledge from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlī, Ibn al-Jawzī, Ibn al-Mannī, and others.

He was diligent in his studies until he became an imām in fiqh and fatwā, familiar with ḥadīth and other areas of knowledge, with a sufficient grasp of each field.

 He had the first rank in the Umayyad Mosque for a long time and was

the imām in the miḥrāb of the Ḥanbalīs there. He taught there and acted as imām to the people in the Muẓaffar Mosque.

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyah said, “No faqīh with greater knowledge than Muwaffaq ad-Dīn entered Syria after al-Awzāʿī.”

Adh-Dhahabī described him as one of the oceans of knowledge and one of the most intelligent men in the world. He called him Shaykh al-Islām.

 Ibn Rajab said the same.

He was of medium height, with a bright, white face, wide brow, long beard, and lean body. More significant than that is the forbearance, generosity, intelligence, and modesty he possessed.

He was intelligent and had a good disposition.

He was described as being courageous in advancing against the enemy and exchanging fire with them and was wounded in his shoulder. He went on jihād under the leadership of the hero of Islam, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn.

He did not delve into abstruse points of scholastic theology with theologians. He adhered primarily to narrated transmissions on the fundamental principles of the religion (uṣūl) and other subjects.

He avoided using phrases that had not been transmitted and commanded that one should affirm and adhere to what has been narrated about the attributes of Allāh in the Book and Sunnah, without anthropomorphism, qualification, representation, deviation, interpretation, or invalidation.

He wrote about 50 books on the sciences of the Qur’ān, ḥadīth, uṣūl ad- dīn, fiqh, and its uṣūl, virtues, abstinence, history and genealogy.

His legal books were widely disseminated and possess so much scholarly merit that the Sultan of the scholars, al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd as-Salām, said, “I was not happy with a fatwā until I had a text from al-Mughnī.”

His method in his other writings, however, was always connected to teaching, as we learn from his biography. He used the knowledge for its basic purposes and directed people to the Divine, Who is the source of every good in the life of the teacher and the learner.

He wrote on different topics and in them concentrated on the rare area which has benefit.

We see, for instance, that he collected the reports of the Tābiʿūn in a book about the importance of repentance in Muslim society, as it is the beginning of the sound path and the key to those who have deviated going straight.

Among his splendid books is Kitāb ar-riqqa wa ’l-bukā’ which contains reports of the elite of the slaves of Allāh. He mentioned that he collected the material for this book in order to treat himself, bring tears to his eyes, and make his heart tender, and so that he would humble himself