al-Mutahabbin fi Allah
- Author died
- 620 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ṭabbā‘
al-Mutahabbin fi Allah (Those Who Love One Another for the Sake of God) is a specialized hadith tract compiled by the Hanbali jurist and traditionist Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama (541–620 AH / 1146–1223 CE) . The work brings together prophetic traditions and early narrations (athar) on the merits, obligations, and eschatological rewards of mutual love, brotherhood, and visitation for the sake of God .
Content and Method
The treatise belongs to the devotional and ethical genre (al-raqa'iq and al-zuhd) within hadith literature. Ibn Qudama compiles narrations equipped with full chains of transmission (isnad) tracing back to the Prophet ﷺ and early companions such as Abu Hurayra, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Ubada ibn al-Samit, Anas ibn Malik, and al-Bara' ibn 'Azib .
The narrations assembled in the book center on key themes regarding spiritual fraternity, including:
- Divine love and shade: Hadiths conveying divine promises for those whose affection is purely for God, such as the hadith qudsi: وجبت محبتي للمتحابين فيَّ، والمتجالسين فيَّ، والمتزاورين فيَّ، والمتباذلين فيَّ ("My love is realized for those who love one another for My sake, sit together for My sake, visit one another for My sake, and spend on one another for My sake") , and reports describing them sheltered beneath God's shade on the Day of Resurrection or seated on radiant pulpits of light .
- The bond of faith: Traditions designating love and hate for God's sake as among the firmest handholds of faith (awthaq 'ura al-iman) .
- Etiquette of brotherhood: Transmissions directing a person who loves another for God's sake to express that affection directly, as in the prophetic report: إذا أحب أحدكم أخاه فليُعْلِمْهُ ("When one of you loves his brother, let him inform him") .
- Expiation of sins: Traditions illustrating that when two believers meet in love for God and greet each other cheerfully, their sins shed like leaves from a dry tree in winter .
Ibn Qudama transmits these reports through his direct teachers and authorities, including Yusuf ibn Hibat Allah, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Baqi, and Abu Bakr 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Nuqqur, citing earlier source collections and intermediaries such as Abu Talib al-Yusufi, Abu Bakr al-Shafi'i, Abu Bakr al-Qati'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
Reception and Editions
The treatise has served as a reference work in hadith compendia and takhrij literature. Later scholars who cited and extracted chains from the work include Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani in al-Matalib al-'Aliya and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in Jami' al-Ahadith .
The work was edited by Khayr Allah al-Sharif and published by Dar al-Tiba' in Damascus .
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