al-Nasiha al-Mukhtassa
- Author died
- 744 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Aqṣā
al-Nasiha al-Mukhtassa (The Dedicated Counsel) is an ethical and spiritual epistle composed by the Hanbali scholar and hadith transmitter Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Rahim (or Abd al-Rahman) ibn Ali ibn Hatim al-Ba'li, known as Ibn al-Habbal (672–744 AH / 1273–1344 CE) .
Purpose and Content
The work was written as a concise personal counsel addressed by the author to one of his students . Drawing upon his own experiences and the teachings of his masters, Ibn al-Habbal addresses essential matters of Islamic conduct (adab shar'iyya), moral discipline (akhlaq), and spiritual refinement (suluk) .
The treatise opens with the prophetic tradition الدين النصيحة ("Religion is sincere advice") and stresses adherence to the Sunnah, the preservation of sound belief, guarding against spiritual heedlessness, and avoiding religious innovations (bida') . A notable passage records an injunction and counsel given personally to the author in 703 AH by his teacher, Ibn Taymiyya .
Manuscript Transmission and Publication
The text was preserved in a unique manuscript copied in Tripoli (Tarabulus al-Sham) in 759 AH by the author's son, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim . The treatise remained unpublished until it was edited by Abd al-Sattar Abu Ghudda and published in a single volume by Dar al-Aqsa in Cairo in 1412 AH / 1991 CE .
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