al-Yaqin li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah
Kitab al-Yaqin (The Book of Certainty) is a devotional hadith treatise on spiritual certainty and steadfast faith by the Baghdadi scholar and educator Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) .
Subject and Content
The work is a short monographic tract (juz') dedicated to the concept of yaqīn (unwavering certainty in God, faith, and the afterlife) and its ethical and spiritual ramifications . Following Ibn Abi al-Dunya's typical methodology in his ethical writings, the text compiles narrations supported by full chains of transmission (asānīd), including:
- Prophetic traditions, such as the report stating: الْكَرَمُ التَّقْوَى، وَالشَّرَفُ التَّوَاضُعُ، وَالْيَقِينُ الْغِنَى ("Nobility is piety, honor is humility, and certainty is wealth") .
- Statements of the Companions, such as Ali ibn Abi Talib's discourse on the four branches of certainty, supplications attributed to Abu Bakr, and traditions from Ammar ibn Yasir and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud .
- Counsels and sayings of the early pious generations (Salaf), including al-Hasan al-Basri, Khalid ibn Ma'dan, and Ata al-Khurasani, alongside narratives concerning wisdom figures such as Luqman the Wise advising his son on repelling doubt with certainty .
- Exegetical remarks on Quranic verses mentioning certainty, such as the explanation of وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيكَ الْيَقِينُ (al-Hijr: 99) as denoting death .
- Spiritual aphorisms, ascetic anecdotes, and moral poetry illustrating how genuine certainty fosters perseverance in worship, contentment with divine decree, and detachment from worldly distractions .
Transmission and Reception
The work was preserved and transmitted across generations through well-documented chains of audition (samāʿ):
- Its primary transmission from the author goes through his student Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Safwan al-Bardha'i, then via Abu al-Husayn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Bishran, and subsequently the Baghdadi nobleman Abu al-Fawaris Tirad ibn Muhammad al-Zaynabi .
- It was notably taught in Baghdad by the female hadith scholar and calligrapher Shuhdah al-Katibah (bint Ahmad al-Ibari) to prominent figures such as Ibn al-Muqayr and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Irbili .
- The book was cataloged by bibliographers and hadith scholars, including Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili in his Fahrasah, Salah al-Din al-Ala'i, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in al-Mu'jam al-mufahras . It was also utilized as a reference source for traditions on certainty and asceticism by later scholars such as Ibn Kathir and Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi .
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