al-Wajal wa al-Tawaththuq bil-Amal li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Waṭan
al-Wajal wa al-Tawaththuq bil-Amal (Apprehension and Diligence in Action) is a devotional and ethical monograph by the Baghdadi traditionist and educator Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) that compiles traditions concerning reverent fear (wajal) and earnestness in righteous deeds .
Subject and Transmission
The work is counted among Ibn Abi al-Dunya's numerous thematic treatises on asceticism (zuhd), moral refinement, and piety . It was preserved and transmitted in single-volume quire form (juzʾ) through a well-documented chain of early traditionists, beginning with the author's direct disciple, Abu 'Ali (or Abu al-Husayn) al-Husayn ibn Safwan al-Bardha'i . From al-Bardha'i, it was transmitted by Abu al-Husayn 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Bishran al-Mu'addal to the Baghdadi naqib Tirad ibn Muhammad al-Zaynabi, whose recension served as the primary source for later scholarly transmission .
The treatise was included among the repertoire of manuscripts that al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH / 1071 CE) brought with him to Damascus . Later traditionists recorded their reading of the text across continuous audition lineages; for instance, the scholar Siraj al-Din al-Qazwini read it under the chain stemming from the Baghdadi scholar Shuhdah bint Ahmad al-Ibri (d. 574 AH / 1178 CE), who held direct audition from Tirad al-Zaynabi .
Manuscripts and Publication
A surviving manuscript copy of the treatise is preserved in the Laleli collection in Istanbul (MS Laleli 3664, folios 134–141) . Microfilm reproductions are held at the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo and the Islamic University of Madinah .
Modern critical editions of the work include:
- An edition verified and annotated by Mashhur ibn Hasan Al Salman, published by Dar al-Watan in Riyadh (1418 AH / 1997 CE) .
- A publication printed by Dar Ibn Hazm in Beirut (1418 AH / 1997 CE), issued alongside another short tract attributed to Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Hadith Antunus al-Sa'ih wa Mawa'izuhu wa Amthaluhu .
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