Qaidah Hasanah fi al-Baqiyat al-Salihat
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Aḍwā' al-Salaf
Qaidah Hasanah fi al-Baqiyat al-Salihat (An Excellent Principle Regarding the Everlasting Righteous Deeds) is a theological and devotional treatise by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE) dedicated to explaining the meanings, virtues, and structural pairings of the four foundational phrases of remembrance (dhikr) .
Title and Identification
In the surviving manuscript, the treatise carries the fuller heading Qaidah Hasanah fi al-Baqiyat al-Salihat wa-Bayan Iqtiran al-Tahlil bi-al-Takbir wa-al-Tasbih bi-al-Tahmid (An Excellent Principle Regarding the Everlasting Righteous Deeds and the Clarification of Pairing Tahlil with Takbir and Tasbih with Tahmid) . In early bibliographies of Ibn Taymiyya's works, his student Ibn Rashiq recorded it under the title Qaidah fi al-Tasbih wa-al-Tahmid wa-al-Tahlil (A Principle Regarding Tasbih, Tahmid, and Tahlil), a designation likewise adopted by Ibn Abd al-Hadi in al-Uqud al-Durriyyah . Ibn Taymiyya refers to this independent discussion in his work Minhaj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, noting that he had expounded upon the reality of tasbih (glorification), tahmid (praise), and the phrase tasbih bi-hamdihi elsewhere .
Contents and Themes
The treatise centers on the theological exposition of the "everlasting righteous deeds" (al-baqiyat al-salihat), identified in prophetic traditions as the four formulas of remembrance: سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا إله إلا الله والله أكبر ("Glory be to Allah, and praise be to Allah, and there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and Allah is the Greatest") .
Ibn Taymiyya explores the semantic and theological harmony between these phrases, particularly their structured pairings across Islamic rites :
- Tasbih and Tahmid: Tasbih represents divine transcendence (tanzih) and the negation of all deficiencies, which inherently necessitates divine veneration (ta'dhim), while tahmid affirms every perfection and attribute of praise, thereby negating imperfections .
- Tahlil and Takbir: Tahlil affirms exclusive divine worship and singularity, while takbir magnifies God's supreme greatness above all creation .
The work also examines the legislated contexts of these remembrances, such as uttering takbir upon ascending elevations and tasbih upon descending, as well as their systematic integration into the postures of ritual prayer, such as bowing and prostration .
Manuscript and Publication
The work has been preserved in a single known manuscript kept in a composite codex (majmu') containing several short treatises by Ibn Taymiyya in the Reisülküttab collection attached to the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 1153, fols. 182a–187b) . It spans seven folios, written in a clear, vocalized hand with approximately twenty-three lines per page . The text has been edited and published independently as well as included within the third volume of the collection Jami al-Masa'il (pp. 269–294) .
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