al-Riqqa wa al-Buka li Ibn Qudama
- Author died
- 620 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Qalam
al-Riqqa wa al-Buka (Tenderness of Heart and Weeping) is a devotional work on asceticism (zuhd) and spiritual exhortations (raqa'iq) composed by the Hanbali jurist and traditionist Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama (541–620 AH / 1146–1223 CE) .
Purpose and Content
The primary objective of the work is to soften hearts and move readers to tears through moral narratives, exhortations, and traditions illustrating fear and reverence of God . The work is structured thematically into several sections:
- An opening part presenting the traits and demeanor of the righteous (sifat al-salihin) .
- Accounts and narratives concerning early prophets .
- Reports concerning the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ .
- Narratives regarding the righteous figures among the Muslim community (salihu ummatihi) alongside miscellaneous uplifting anecdotes .
- A concluding section describing Paradise and its eternal blessings .
Method and Sources
Ibn Qudama compiled the contents of the book from various classical genres, including works of prophetic biography (siyar), military campaigns (maghazi), history, biographical dictionaries (tarajim), and collections of asceticism and piety . A distinguishing feature of the work is that Ibn Qudama generally relates reports with his own chains of transmission (asānīd) extending back through his teachers .
He does not record contemporary events from his own time, nor does he append critical evaluations to the narrations despite the presence of weak reports, as his aim was spiritual impact rather than strict hadith verification .
Transmission and Editions
The biographer Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi listed al-Riqqa wa al-Buka among Ibn Qudama's writings as a concise, single-volume work (mujallad saghir) . It was transmitted through audition sessions by his students; the historian Al-Birzali noted having heard the entire book read in Baalbek from the judge Taj al-Din Abd al-Khaliq ibn Abd al-Salam al-Ba'labakki (d. 696 AH), who narrated it directly from Ibn Qudama .
In modern times, the work has been edited and published, including an edition prepared by Muhammad Khayr Ramadan Yusuf (published in 1415 AH / 1994 CE by Dar al-Qalam in Damascus and al-Dar al-Shamiyya in Beirut) , as well as editions edited by Mus'ad al-Sa'dani and Abd al-Rahim al-Salwani .
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