Dhamm al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyyah
Dhamm al-Dunya (The Dispraise of the World) is a treatise on asceticism (zuhd) and spiritual admonition by the Baghdadi scholar and educator Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) . It gathers prophetic traditions, statements of early Muslim figures, moral anecdotes, and poetry to censure attachment to the material world and highlight the primacy of the afterlife .
Subject and Content
The work belongs to the genre of early Islamic ascetic literature that Ibn Abi al-Dunya cultivated across dozens of specialized monographs . Its material revolves around warning believers against worldly vanity, the rapid passing of mortal life, and the spiritual perils of greed and distraction .
The text opens with traditions illustrating the triviality of the worldly life in comparison with the hereafter, including the narration transmitted through Sa'id ibn Sulayman al-Wasiti on the authority of Sahl ibn Sa'd, where the Prophet ﷺ passed by a dead sheep and remarked: أترون هذه الشاة هينة على صاحبها؟ قالوا: نعم، قال: والذي نفسي بيده، للدنيا أهون على الله عز وجل من هذه على صاحبها، ولو كانت الدنيا تعدل عند الله جناح بعوضة ما سقى كافرًا منها شربة ("Do you see this sheep as worthless to its owner? They said: Yes. He said: By the One in Whose hand is my soul, the world is more worthless to God, Mighty and Majestic, than this sheep is to its owner; and if the world were worth a mosquito's wing to God, He would not have given a disbeliever a single drink of water from it") .
In addition to prophetic traditions, the book records extensive sayings and discourses from the Companions and Successors. Among these is a narrative in which Ali ibn Abi Talib, hearing a man publicly reviling the world, articulated a balanced view of earthly life, describing it as a realm of truth for those who are truthful with it, a place of salvation for those who understand it, and a marketplace for God's allies who acquire mercy and earn Paradise therein .
Method and Structure
Ibn Abi al-Dunya structured Dhamm al-Dunya as a traditional compilation arranged with full chains of transmission (isnads) extending from his own direct teachers, such as Sa'id ibn Sulayman al-Wasiti and 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi Maryam, back to the early authorities . The text combines:
- Prophetic reports (hadith) and non-prophetic traditions (athar) addressing the fleeting nature of worldly pursuits .
- Aphorisms and hortatory reflections from early ascetics and sages .
- Verses of ascetic poetry illustrative of the book's core themes .
Transmission and Influence
The text was transmitted down through Baghdadi and wider scholarly networks by transmission chains recorded in medieval manuscripts, including audition sessions conducted by later traditionists such as Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muharib al-Qaysi and the female hadith scholar Lami'ah bint al-Mubarak al-Khaffaf .
Subsequent generations of scholars regularly extracted reports from Dhamm al-Dunya. Later authors who drew upon its materials include the hadith critic Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi when documenting traditions cited in treatises on asceticism, as well as Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in his commentary Jami' al-'Ulum wa-l-Hikam .
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