al-Muqalliq li-Ibn al-Jawzi
- Author died
- 597 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ṣaḥābah lil-Turāth bi-Ṭanṭā
al-Muqalliq (The Disquieting Book) is a treatise on homiletics and religious exhortation by the Hanbali scholar and preacher Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE), dedicated to stirring spiritual vigilance and fear of divine punishment through prophetic traditions and early pious reports .
Purpose and Composition
In his introduction, Ibn al-Jawzi explains that he composed the work after observing that popular storytellers (quṣṣāṣ) had abandoned proper methods of admonition and intimidation (al-takhwīf wa-l-tarhīb) in their public assemblies . He critiques them for indulging in frivolous embellishments, transmitting false or interpolated hadiths, and assuring sinners exclusively of God's expansive mercy while ignoring His severe retribution . Ibn al-Jawzi argues that the preacher functions as a physician for the ailments of sin, tasked with treating spiritual diseases with their opposites; because spiritual complacency and false security had overtaken the public, he compiled fear-inducing traditions, descriptions of punishment, and unsettling narratives to rouse the negligent, soften hardened hearts, and provoke repentance .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into parts (ajzāʾ) and consists of sequentially narrated hadiths and pious traditions cited with full chains of transmission (isnāds), frequently routing through authorities such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn al-Jawzi's direct teachers . The contents include:
- Sayings of early ascetics: Notable maxims on spiritual fear, such as al-Hasan al-Basri's counsel that keeping company with those who inspire fear until one attains safety is better than associating with those who provide false security until fear overtakes them .
- Punishments of hypocritical preachers and sinners: Hadiths detailing the fate in Hellfire of those who command good but do not practice it, including visions witnessed during the Miʿrāj of worldly orators whose lips are sheared with scissors of fire, and slanders whose chests are clawed with copper nails .
- Eschatology and the grave: Traditions detailing the trials of death and the afterlife, such as the lengthy hadith of al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib describing the departure of the soul, the questioning by the two angels in the grave, and the contrasting states of the believer and the disbeliever .
- Narratives of the Companions: Historical reports highlighting the intense piety and dread of the reckoning among the early community, including statements and post-mortem dreams related to Umar ibn al-Khattab .
Publication
The book was edited and annotated by Majdi Fathi al-Sayyid and published by Dar al-Sahaba li-l-Turath in Tanta in 1411 AH / 1991 CE .
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