Awaiq fi Tariq al-Ubudiyya
- Author died
- 1445 AH
- Editions
- Markaz al-Nujaydī
ʿAwāʾiq fī Ṭarīq al-ʿUbūdiyya (Obstacles on the Path of Servitude) is an Arabic treatise on Islamic creed and spiritual conduct by the Saudi scholar and ascetic Abu Muhammad Abd al-Karim ibn Salih al-Humayd (b. 1361 AH / 1942 CE, d. 1445 AH / 2024 CE) .
Background and Context
The author, Abd al-Karim ibn Salih ibn Abd al-Karim Al Humayd, was born in Buraydah in the region of al-Qassim in 1361 AH (another account dates his birth to the 1350s AH) . After studying at the Buraydah Scientific Institute and working as an instructor in the Eastern Province, he devoted himself to religious scholarship in the early 1390s AH . He studied under local scholars including Fahd ibn Ubayd Al Abd al-Muhsin, Muhammad ibn Salih al-Mutawwa', Salih al-Bulayhi, and Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Subayyil, and relied extensively on the writings of Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and the figures of the Najdi scholarly tradition .
Al-Humayd became widely recognized for his adherence to asceticism (zuhd), traditional piety, and rigorous focus on issues of creed (ʿaqīda) and inner devotion (sulūk) .
Subject and Bibliographical Standing
ʿAwāʾiq fī Ṭarīq al-ʿUbūdiyya addresses the concept of ʿubūdiyya—the complete, voluntary submission, worship, and devotion of the servant to God—and identifies the spiritual, intellectual, and practical impediments (ʿawāʾiq) that obstruct a believer from realizing true servitude . The book forms part of the author's broader corpus on creed and spiritual guidance, which also includes Iḥsān Sulūk al-ʿAbd al-Mamlūk ilā Malik al-Mulūk (The Proper Conduct of the Bound Servant toward the King of Kings) .
The title is enumerated among al-Humayd's primary religious writings in contemporary biographical compilations and in bibliographies documented by his students in Buraydah , as well as in the author's own lists of his major works on doctrine and Islamic practice .
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