Part 1

Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH)

al-Hafiz Abi’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi [d. 597AH]

SEEDS of ADMONISHMENT and REFORM

being a translation of his ‘Kitab al-Lata’if fil Wai?

Every breath we take is taking us closer to death. The time we spend in this world is short, the time we are held in our graves is long, and the punishment for following our lowly desires is calamitous.

Seeds of Admonishment and Reform

al-Hafiz Aba’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi

Translated from the original Arabic by ‘Ayman ibn Khalid

W: wwyedarassunnah.com E: [email protected] E; [email protected]

British Library Cataloguing in publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Title: Seeds of Admonishment and Reform by al-Hafiz Abi'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi Translation by Ayman ibn Khilid

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Bewate Of Sins...cesssessessssecsseesseeesessnsecneesueesneesnecsseesnecsse113

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT In the saying of Allah: “The reckoning of mankind

GYAWS CVEL MOAT? scseresssssereesssereesesecueesnusenecsnecnsesnecnnecsnecnnenses128

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE The Supplication of the Pious...139

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Believing in the Divine Decree (a/-Qadar).

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE The Punishment of being Completely With the Dinyaeeecsssssssssesssesesesesssessseessseesseessseessnseaneess145

Unmindfulness of the Hereafter...77 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TRblas (Sincetity) ccssmsnnacssnecsssvcernovesvenancomtcsiancesencesesen84 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Strong Will and the Determination of Meni...98 CHAPTER TWENTY

Overcoming Self-Desites...ccsssescssescssseesssecsneersseessneesssne104 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tears Of Sintets. ..scsce:sescnsmnaccssnscsnerenamneasiaressnessrasnioniens107

Prophet Adam (‘alayhi as-SALGM) srssssscsssseessesseessseesseesns34 CHAPTER FOUR

Salman al-Farsi (radiyAlahu ‘Gnbtt)orreessoeeessseseeeesvereses40 CHAPTER SIX

In the Saying of Allah: “They arise from [their]

beds; they supplicate their Lord in fear and hope...” sissies47 CHAPTER SEVEN

Turning to Allah (in repentance)...cecssecsssecssesessneeesneeess51 CHAPTER EIGHT

Struggling against ONeself...sssecccssseeesssnesessnneessssneesseens55 CHAPTER NINE

The disptaise Of duityd.sssesssecsssecssneessnecssneessuesssnecssnsee60 CHAPTER TEN

Working for the Hereafter.

CHAPTER TWELVE Dihul Bijadayn. ...svsevississesisvivsavenassaciiasnsassovviasscwaswsivivsisins74

Night Prayets....siiasssvcusssseassssnsssrnnssoscninpeesennaenshansoasnsseessie150 CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Beware of Hypoctisyiecscsssssseessssssessssessesssesnssesseeesssenss156 CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Truthful Worshipping...

CHAPTER FORTY Dispraise of Assiduous Desire for Wealth...173

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Reviving the Hearts with Teats....cssssssesssseseeseeeesnnnes175

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO. Grey Hair is a Sign of the Ennd....cssssssssssseeessneeesnreseennes178

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE Characteristics of Worshippers...sscssssesseserneecsneeenneees182

Journeys Of Lifessissssessvsssussasnssssssssssssssvevessssssssassasassticers189 CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Incapacity and Lassitude....scsssssesssesssssessssssneeessessnesseente192 CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Condemnation Of SLay{ANcssessesssseessecsssecssseessseessesense196 CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT SOlitude....cscececssssseecssssseessssusesesssnecssssnnecesssneesesssneeesssneesense201 CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

In the saying of Allah: “Sndeed, those for whom the best [reward] has preceded frond Us? .cssecssecssssesssseessssecsseesseessseess204 CHAPTER FIFTY

All praise is for Allah the Most High, and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our master and leader, Muhammad (48), his noble Family and Companions and all those who follow them in goodness until the Last Day.

In your hands if the fifth book in the seties, from the illustrious and inimitable scholar of the 6" century Hijti, Imam Ibn al-Jawzi, may Allah have mercy upon him. He penned this amazingly deep and thought-provoking work in powerful prose, accompanied with intense imagery designed to impart profound points of benefit. His lessons and sermons are uniquely arranged and tastefully peppered with beauty of words and expressions, of which the translator tried to maintain in English.

Its message contains an essence of the human condition, which diverts man away ftom the mesmerising effect of this transient and material world with its attractions - and brings back the real focus and purpose of man’s role and responsibility in life. Allah said in the Qur’an: “And the life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a thing that deceives).” [Al-Imran: 185); “...and they rejoice in the life of the world, whereas the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment.” {a\-Ra‘d: 26] and “And what-

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

ever you have been given is an enjoyment of the life of (this) world and its adornment, and that (Hereafter) which is with Allah is better and will remain forever, Have you then no sense?” [al-Qasas: 60]

Allih also gave people a sense of urgency in returning back to Him, making ‘awbah and seeking His forgiveness: “And hasten forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Rabb, and for Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the Muttagin.” [Al-Imran, 133]

In ‘Fada’il al-Dhikr’, Ibn Jawzi wrote that one of the Salaf said: ‘O son of Adam! You need your shate in this life, but need your share in the Hereafter even more. If you took care of your share in this life, then you will lose your share in the Hereafter and are soon bound to lose your share in this life too. If you took care of your share in the Hereafter, you will also win your full share in this life with ease.’

May Allah reward the translator, and all those involved in production of this work, from its manuscript stages to its publication, only Allah can reward them, for the service they continue to render for the sake of the Din. I ask Allah, the Most High, to add these efforts to the scale of our good deeds on a Day whereon neither wealth nor children will avail.

All praise is for Allah, after approximately eleven months of hard work translating and reviewing this work, the book came to see the light.

Despite the modest size of this book, it is from the more complicated type of book to translate from Arabic. This is due to the author’s ornately figurative style, with aspects of metaphors and expressive rhetoric he used. The sentences are combined with profound Qur’anic verses that deliver particular meanings relevant to the point being addressed, which in itself requires an in-depth knowledge of various sciences. This complexity adds more value to the book, which is what author intended - He said about this book: “Within this book I enveloped delicate phrases, subtle and elusive clues and indicative hints that I have laid out their words from various disseminated arts.”

The original Arabic of the book is written in a rhetorically eloquent and delicate way that depends on concise statements, and indicative hints. That being said, it seems the author intended the book for a particular group of students of knowledge and intellectuals whose knowledge extends to encompass the sciences of

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

Qur’an, Arabic language, history, biographies and much more. This would explain what he meant with his saying: “therefore only those who do not accept the ordinary and the low shall enjoy it.”

Due to the aforementioned nature of the original book, I focused on delivering the intended meaning while ensuring to maintain some of the beauty of the articulated literary style as much as possible. Notwithstanding, I avoided falling into literal translation in order to protect the originality of sentences that cannot be delivered in translation and thus, explained them in the footnotes.

THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

al-Hafiz Abw’l-Faraj ‘Abdu’l-Rahman ibn Jawzi

His Name and Lineage

He is Abi’l-Faraj Jamal al-Din ‘Abdu’l-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Ubayd Allah Ibn al-Jawzi al-Qurashi alTamimi al-Bakti from the family of Muhammad ibn Abii Bakr a+ Siddig, al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali.'

His Birth and Upbringing

He was born in 509 or 510 A.H. Upon reaching adolescence, his aunt took him to Ibn Nasir from whom he learned a great deal. He came to love preaching while barely having reached the age of puberty, and from then started to give sermons to the people.

His father passed away when he was three years old so his aunt

' [hail al-Randatain, p.21, al-Bidayah wa'l-Nibayah, p. 13/26.

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

took care of him. His relatives were copper merchants so at times in hadith hearings he would write his name as ‘Abdu’l-Rahman ibn ‘Ali al-Saffar [i.e. The Coppersmith].

His first hadith hearing was in 556 A.H.,as cited by al-Dhahabi.2

While still very young he became known as a religious person who would not socialise with anyone and would not eat from any food whose source was doubtful. He would only leave his house for prayer and he would not play with other kids. He was a person of very great determination and ambition and he spent all his life busy in seeking knowledge, preaching and authoring,

Al-Hafiz Ibn al-Jawzi has already introduced his teachers in his book Mashyakhat Ibn al-Jawzi (i.e. the scholars who taught Ibn alJawzi] where he listed many of them. In the field of hadith he benefitted from accompanying Ibn Nasir, in Qur’an and Adab [i.e. Manners] from Sibt al-Khiyat and Ibn al-Jawaliqi. He was the last to narrate from al-Dinawari and al-Mutawakkili.*

Those who narrated from him include his son and companion, the great scholar Muhyi al-Din Yasuf who was a teacher in the

* Thail al-Randatain, 21, Thail ‘ala Tabagat al-Hanabila, 1/401, Shatharat al-Thabab,

* al-Bidayab wa’l-Nibayah, 13/29, Said al-Khatir, 238.

* Siyar al-Alam al-Nubula’, 21/366, 367.

al-Hafiz Abw'l-Faraj ‘Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Jawzi

institute of al-Musta‘sim billah, his oldest son ‘Ali al-Nasikh, his grandson, the preacher Shams al-Din Yusuf ibn Farghali al-Hanafi the author of Mir’at al-Zaman (Mirror of Time), al-Hafiz ‘Abd alGhani, Shaykh Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama, Ibn al-Dubaythi, Ibn al-Najjar and al-Diyaé

His grandson Abii al-Muzfir and majority of those who wrote his biography say that he had three sons:

2, Abi al-Qasim Badr al-Din ‘Ali al-Nasikh*

3. Abi Muhammad Yisuf Muhyi al-Din’: He was the most