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Ibn al-Jawzi

Fadail Bayt al-Maqdis - Ibn al-Jawzi

Author died
597 AH
Editions
T al-Afaq

Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis (The Virtues of Jerusalem), also titled Fada'il al-Quds, is a treatise on the sacred virtues, history, and religious merits of Jerusalem by the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE) .

Title and Composition

Disagreement exists across historical sources and manuscript copies regarding the exact title of the work. It was recorded under the title Fada'il al-Quds by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi in Mir'at al-Zaman, Ibn al-'Imad in Shadharat al-Dhahab, and Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli in al-A'lam, which is also the title appearing on the Princeton manuscript . Conversely, the historian Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Furat cited it in his chronicle as Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis, which is the title preserved on the title pages of the manuscripts at the Chester Beatty Library and Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya .

Ibn al-Jawzi explains in his introduction that he composed the work after a resident of Jerusalem asked him to write a compilation describing the merits and sacred standing of the city .

Structure and Content

The author organized the work into twenty-seven thematic chapters (abwab) :

  1. The virtue of the Holy Land .
  2. The virtue of the mountain upon which Bayt al-Maqdis sits .
  3. The establishment of Bayt al-Maqdis and its early origins .
  4. The wonders that once existed in it .
  5. The virtue of Bayt al-Maqdis .
  6. The virtue of visiting it .
  7. The reward of praying in it .
  8. The multiplication of good and bad deeds therein .
  9. The virtue of residing in it .
  10. Its status as one of the mosques to which journeys are undertaken .
  11. The graves of the prophets located there, the prayer niche (Mihrab) of David, and the Spring of Silwan .
  12. The ruin and plundering that befell Bayt al-Maqdis historically .
  13. Moses's campaign toward the land of Bayt al-Maqdis .
  14. Joshua son of Nun's conquest of Bayt al-Maqdis .
  15. The prayer of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ facing toward Bayt al-Maqdis .
  16. The Prophet's Night Journey (Isra') to it and what he witnessed there .
  17. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab's conquest of Bayt al-Maqdis and his prayer therein .
  18. Recent historical events that befell Bayt al-Maqdis .
  19. Eminent personalities who stayed or settled in it, and their identities .
  20. The angels, ascetics, and devout worshippers who frequented it .
  21. The eschatological gathering of humanity (al-hashr) taking place from there .
  22. The merit of the Sacred Rock .
  23. The virtue of praying on both sides of the Rock .
  24. The rock upon which Solomon stood after completing the building .
  25. The heavenly ascent taking place from there .
  26. The reward of assuming the state of consecration (ihram) from Bayt al-Maqdis .
  27. The visitation of the Ka'ba to the Rock on the Day of Resurrection .

Method and Sources

Ibn al-Jawzi followed the method of traditional hadith scholars in compiling the book, quoting hadiths, historical reports, and biographical anecdotes with full chains of transmission (asānīd) . A primary source for the work was Fada'il al-Bayt al-Muqaddas by Abu Bakr al-Wasiti; out of the sixty-seven total narrations recorded in Ibn al-Jawzi's book, forty-four are transmitted directly through al-Wasiti's line of transmission, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the material .

Later scholars quoted from the work in their own treatises on Jerusalem; for instance, Shams al-Din al-Minhaji al-Asyuti cited it repeatedly in his Ithaf al-Akhissa bi-Fada'il al-Masjid al-Aqsa when documenting the Companions buried in Jerusalem and traditions regarding the Mount of Olives .

Manuscripts and Editions

The text is preserved in at least three manuscript copies: a manuscript at Princeton University (which is defective and missing portions), and two complete manuscripts housed respectively at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo .

The book was edited by Jibra'il Sulayman Jabbur as a doctoral dissertation at Princeton University in 1947, and later published by Dar al-Afaq al-Jadida in Beirut in 1979 (with a second edition in 1980), relying on the incomplete Princeton manuscript . Another edition, prepared by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman 'Adil ibn Sa'd, appeared within a collection published by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya in Beirut in 2001, and an edition by Muhammad Zaynham Muhammad 'Azab was published in 1989 by Maktabat al-Thaqafa al-Diniyya .

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