Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Imām Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zarʿī al-Dimashqī, known as Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (691 – 751 AH / 1292 – 1350 CE)

Early Life and Background

Imām Ibn al-Qayyim — full name Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb ibn Saʿd al-Zarʿī al-Dimashqī al-Ḥanbalī
[شمس الدين أبو عبد الله محمد بن أبي بكر بن أيوب بن سعد الزرعي الدمشقي الحنبلي] —
was born in 691 AH / 1292 CE in Damascus, under the Mamlūk Sultanate.^1

His father, Abū Bakr ibn Ayyūb, was superintendent of the famous Madrasah al-Jawziyyah, from which Ibn al-Qayyim later took his epithet al-Jawziyyah (الجوزية).^2
Raised among books and scholars, he memorized the Qurʾān at an early age, mastered Arabic, and displayed deep emotional attachment to knowledge — particularly ḥadīth and tafsīr.

Education and Mentorship

He studied under leading Damascene scholars of Qurʾān, ḥadīth, and fiqh, including:

Ibn ʿAbd al-Dāʾim al-Maqdisī,
Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Dāʾim, and
most decisively, Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, with whom he studied for over sixteen years until his teacher’s death in 728 AH / 1328 CE.^3

This mentorship transformed him. He absorbed Ibn Taymiyyah’s scriptural rationalism and fearless ijtihād, yet expressed it with gentler tone and mystical introspection.

Intellectual and Spiritual Formation

Ibn al-Qayyim was not merely a jurist; he was a spiritual psychologist.
He sought to harmonize ʿilm (knowledge) and ḥāl (inner state) — insisting that true scholarship must lead to purification of the soul (taṣfiyat al-nafs تصفية النفس).

He combined:

Hadith-based authenticity,
Rational clarity (reason as servant of revelation), and
Spiritual refinement inspired by early ascetics like al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī and al-Junayd.

This integration became the hallmark of later Sunni spiritual ethics.

Trials and Perseverance

Like his teacher, Ibn al-Qayyim faced imprisonment for defending independent interpretation and opposing blind taqlīd.
He was jailed in Cairo and Damascus (1326–1328 CE) during the Miḥna against Ibn Taymiyyah’s followers.^4

In confinement he devoted himself to Qurʾānic reflection and authored works on repentance and divine love, saying:

“The imprisoned is he whose heart is confined from his Lord.”^5

After release, he continued teaching at the Umayyad Mosque and the Jawziyyah school, gathering devoted students — among them Ibn Kathīr, Ibn Rajab, and al-Dhahabī.

Methodology and Thought

Ibn al-Qayyim’s intellectual structure extended Ibn Taymiyyah’s rational creed but expanded its moral and emotional dimension.
His writings emphasized:

Sincerity (ikhlāṣ إخلاص) as foundation of all deeds,
Balance between love, fear, and hope (maḥabbah, khawf, rajāʾ),
Divine wisdom in creation, and
Practical spirituality grounded in revelation, not speculation.

He rejected fatalism, asserting that Qadar (divine decree) coexists with human moral agency.
In jurisprudence, he promoted maqāṣid-based reasoning (objectives of the law), foreshadowing later reformers.

Major Works

Work	Arabic Title	Subject	Notes
Zād al-Maʿād fī Hady Khayr al-ʿIbād	زاد المعاد في هدي خير العباد	Prophetic biography & ethics	Synthesizes Sīrah, fiqh, and spiritual medicine; written during travel.^6
Madarij al-Sālikīn bayna Manāzil Iyyāka Naʿbudu wa Iyyāka Nastaʿīn	مدارج السالكين بين منازل إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين	Sufism & self-purification	Commentary on al-Anṣārī’s Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn; maps the journey of the heart to God.
Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn ʿan Rabb al-ʿĀlamīn	إعلام الموقعين عن رب العالمين	Legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh)	Defends dynamic ijtihād; warns against mechanical taqlīd.^7
Al-Jawāb al-Kāfī liman Saʾala ʿan al-Dawāʾ al-Shāfī (al-Dāʾ wa al-Dawāʾ)	الجواب الكافي لمن سأل عن الدواء الشافي	Spiritual psychology	Treatise on sin and repentance; explores causes of spiritual illness.
Miftāḥ Dār al-Saʿādah	مفتاح دار السعادة	Knowledge & reflection	Celebrates intellect as divine gift guiding to worship.
Ṭarīq al-Hijratayn wa Bāb al-Saʿādatayn	طريق الهجرتين وباب السعادتين	Theology & ethics	On the two migrations: to God through repentance, and to the Prophet through obedience.

Style and Legacy

His language blended Qurʾānic rhythm, poetic imagery, and logical order.
Unlike polemicists, he wrote for hearts and minds alike — which made his works beloved across legal schools.
Later scholars called him “the physician of the hearts” (ṭabīb al-qulūb طبيب القلوب).^8

His writings influenced:

Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī,
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb,
Shah Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī, and modern spiritual reformers who sought balance between orthodoxy and emotion.

Death

Ibn al-Qayyim passed away on 13 Rajab 751 AH / 23 September 1350 CE in Damascus, aged 59.^9
He was buried beside his father at Bāb al-Ṣaghīr Cemetery.
His funeral drew large crowds of students and admirers — testimony to a life that joined intellect and devotion.

Legacy

Field	Contribution
Theology	Systematized Ibn Taymiyyah’s rational-scriptural creed with moral clarity.
Fiqh & Uṣūl	Advocated purpose-oriented jurisprudence (maqāṣid al-sharīʿah).
Spirituality	Developed a Qurʾānic psychology of love, patience, and repentance.
Literature	Produced some of the most eloquent Arabic prose in post-classical Islam.

He remains the bridge between intellectual rigor and inner purification — a scholar whose pen still guides seekers from formalism to heartfelt faith.

“He who knows the path to God walks it with humility, for the nearer one draws, the greater one perceives His majesty.”
— Ibn al-Qayyim, Madarij al-Sālikīn

References (for Chicago-style footnoting)

Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.”
Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, vol. 14 (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1990), 245.
Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, Dhail Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, vol. 2 (Riyadh: Maktabat al-ʿUbaykān, 2001), 337.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥādī, ʿUqūd al-Durar fī Manāqib Ibn Taymiyyah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn (Riyadh: King Saʿūd University Press, 1976), 189.
Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Dāʾ wa al-Dawāʾ, Introduction.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Zād al-Maʿād, vol. 1 (Riyadh: Dār ʿĀlam al-Fawāʾid, 1998), Preface.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn, vol. 1 (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1991), 11.
Ibn Rajab, Dhail Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, 344.
Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, vol. 14, 268.