al-Riqqa wa al-Buka li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
al-Riqqa wa al-Buka’ (Tenderness of Heart and Weeping) is a devotional work on spiritual heart-softeners (raqa'iq) and asceticism (zuhd) by the Baghdadi scholar Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) . The book compiles traditions and narratives centered on godly sorrow, the virtue of shedding tears out of the fear and reverence of God, and the states of early Muslim ascetics .
Subject and Contents
The work focuses on cultivating humility, contrition, and tenderheartedness through documented reports narrated with complete chains of transmission (isnad) . Ibn Abi al-Dunya details the virtues, motives, and circumstances of pious weeping, drawing upon the sayings and biographies of the Successors (al-Tabi'in) and those who followed them .
Among the specific subjects and chapters arranged in the text are:
- Weeping out of the fear of God (al-buka' min khashyat Allah) .
- Prompting and bringing oneself to weep (istid'a' al-buka') .
- The causes and catalysts of weeping (asbab al-buka') .
- Weeping upon the recitation of the Quran (al-buka' 'inda qira'at al-Qur'an) .
- Weeping during ritual prayer (al-buka' fi al-salat) .
- Those whose eyesight was impaired or damaged by extensive weeping (man afsada 'aynayhi al-buka') .
- A concluding compendium on the collective traditions and biographical anecdotes of constant weepers (jima' akhbar al-bakka'in) .
Transmission and Editions
The book was preserved and transmitted through classical hadith audition chains; the traditional scholar Salah al-Din al-'Ala'i recorded receiving it in two substantial parts (juz'an kabiran) through a transmission line traced back to the author .
In print, the text has been issued in several critical editions, including:
- An edition edited by Muhammad Khayr Ramadan Yusuf, published by Maktabat al-'Ubaykan in Riyadh (1415 AH / 1994 CE) and later reissued by Dar Ibn Hazm in Beirut (1416 AH) .
- An edition edited and annotated by Mus'ad 'Abd al-Hamid Muhammad al-Sa'dani, published by Maktabat al-Qur'an in Cairo .
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