In describing al-Wabil al-Sayyib, here translated into English for the first time as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on the Invocation of God, the author says, We have mentioned [in it] nearly one hundred benefits of remembrance of God [dhikr], and the secrets of remembrance...This is a book of great usefulness. Written in the fourteenth century by the renowned theologian Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, this treatise movingly details the many blessings of the remembrance of God. Through discussions of the ego, the nature of the body, the ephemerality of the world, the degrees of prayer, fasting, charity, and the purification of the heart, this beautifully written work is a genuine contribution to Muslim spirituality. What makes Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on the Invocation of God of great interest is that it illustrates the spiritual life of Ibn Qayyim and of his teacher, the Hanbalite reformer Ibn Taymiyya (1263AH/1328AD).

Author Biography

Author Information: Born in 1292 near Damascus, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya obtained a classical Islamic education, specialised in jurisprudence and became a renowned theologian and jurist. In 1312, he met the Hanbalite reformer Ibn Taymiyya and remained his disciple until the latter's death in 1327. Ibn al-Qayyim died in 1350 in Damascus. Among his other works translated by the Islamic Texts Society are "Medicine of the Prophet", "Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on Knowledge" and "Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on Divine Wisdom and the Problem of Evil".---Translator Information: Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald and Moulay Youssef Slitine are scholars based in Morocco and involved in education.