al-Hilm li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqāfīyah
al-Hilm (Forbearance) is an ethical monograph compiled by the Baghdad-based traditionist and educator Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE), dedicated to the virtue of forbearance, tolerance, and restraint against anger.
Subject Matter and Methodology
The work is categorized among early monographs on Islamic manners and virtues (adab and makarim al-akhlaq), alongside the author's other single-subject ethical works such as al-Samt (Silence), al-Sabr (Patience), al-Ikhwan (Brothers), and Dhamm al-Ghadab (The Dispraise of Anger). In compiling the book, Ibn Abi al-Dunya adheres to the traditional method of the traditionists by supplying full chains of transmission (isnads) for every report he adduces.
The text gathers Hadith, statements and counsel of the Companions and early Muslim figures, biographical anecdotes illustrating self-control under provocation, and poetic selections. Its material highlights themes such as forbearance serving as the essential ornament of knowledge, maintaining composure when reviled, pardoning wrongdoers out of dignity rather than humiliation, and prioritizing clemency over hasty retribution.
Transmission and Bibliographic History
The compilation is recorded in classical bio-bibliographical works under the title Kitab al-Hilm, including Ibn al-Nadim's al-Fihrist and Ismail Pasha al-Babani's Hadiyyat al-'Arifin. In the transmission register of works transmitted to Damascus by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, it is recorded under the extended title Kitab al-Hilm wa-Dhamm al-Fuhsh wa-l-Badha' (The Book of Forbearance and the Dispraise of Obscenity and Vulgarity). Subsequent scholars of ethics, including Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in his Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), cited and transmitted reports directly from the text.
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