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Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali

Istinshaq Nasim al-Uns min Nafahat Riyad al-Quds

Author died
795 AH
Editions
al-Fārūq al-Ḥadīthah lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr

Istinshaq Nasim al-Uns min Nafahat Riyad al-Quds (Inhaling the Breeze of Intimacy from the Fragrances of the Holy Meadows) is a spiritual treatise on the divine love of God by the Hanbali traditionist and jurist Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (736–795 AH / 1335–1395 CE).

Purpose and Themes

In the introduction, Ibn Rajab emphasizes that worship must unite love (mahabbah), fear (khawf), and hope (raja'). He observes that past doctrinal deviations arose when individuals isolated one of these components: excessive fear bred the innovations of the Kharijites, exclusive reliance on hope led to Murji'ism, while an ungrounded emphasis on love without fear and hope fostered antinomianism (ibahah) and incarnationism (hulul).

Ibn Rajab critiques later figures claiming devotion who spoke abstractly about love without supporting their discourse from the Quran, the Sunnah, and the sayings of the early generations (salaf) and leading scholars. He further cautions against relying on erotic love poetry (ash'ar 'ushshaq al-suwar) and tales of romantic passion, noting that unanchored claims of love often lead to ecstatic utterances (shath), presumptuous familiarity (idlal), and conduct conflicting with servanthood. He structured the work to provide a scriptural and traditional exposition of love for God, detailing its signs, causes, and requisites.

Structure and Contents

The treatise is organized into twelve chapters:

  1. Chapter 1: The obligation of loving God and giving precedence to His love over wealth, offspring, and self.
  2. Chapter 2: Seeking God's love in the most complete manner as one of the foremost and most essential objectives.
  3. Chapter 3: The means and causes through which divine love is attained.
  4. Chapter 4: The signs of sincere love, including obedience to God, striving in His way, accepting reproach for His sake, and following His Messenger.
  5. Chapter 5: The lovers' delight in the speech of their Beloved as nourishment for their hearts.
  6. Chapter 6: The intimacy (uns) of the lovers with God and having no ultimate aim in this life or the hereafter other than Him.
  7. Chapter 7: The night vigils of lovers and their private communion (munajah) with their Lord.
  8. Chapter 8: The longing of lovers to meet God.
  9. Chapter 9: The lovers' contentment with difficult decrees and finding solace in afflictions sent by their Creator.
  10. Chapter 10: The fear felt by knowing lovers and its superiority over the fear of ordinary believers.
  11. Chapter 11: The nobility of the people of love and their attainment of the highest ranks of nearness before God.
  12. Chapter 12: Selected sayings and realized insights of the people of divine love that strengthen hearts upon their path.

Manuscripts and Publications

Several manuscript copies of the treatise have survived, including MS 197 at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which contains a lacuna extending across the early chapters up to a passage in the later part of the text. Additional manuscripts are preserved at King Saud University in Riyadh (MSS 1817/7 and 1637/1), the Library of the Saudi Dar al-Ifta (MSS 527 and 633), and the General Awqaf Library in Baghdad (MS 4754/3).

The work was printed in Cairo by Matba'at al-Imam in 1363 AH. It was later edited by Ahmad al-Sharif and published in 1411 AH / 1991 CE jointly by al-Maktab al-Islami in Beirut and Dar al-Khani in Riyadh. It was also edited by Majdi Qasim and published separately by Dar al-Fath, and included within the third volume of Majmu' Rasa'il Ibn Rajab.

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