Rawdat al-Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al-Mushtaqin
- Author died
- 751 AH
- Editions
- T Ataat al-Ilm · Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya
Rawdat al-Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al-Mushtaqin (The Garden of Lovers and the Excursion of the Passionate) is a treatise on the nature, categories, ethics, and legal dimensions of love by the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH / 1350 CE).
Title and Authorship
The book is titled Rawdat al-Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al-Mushtaqin by its author in his preface, opening with the praise of God who made love a means to attain the beloved. In some biographical dictionaries, such as Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila and Shadharat al-Dhahab, its title appears with transposed phrasing as Nuzhat al-Mushtaqin wa Rawdat al-Muhibbin. A variant reading in one manuscript gives Rawdat al-Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al-'Ashiqin, which Bakr Abu Zayd noted is likely a scribal corruption. Hajji Khalifa documented the treatise in Kashf al-Zunun under its standard title, accurately describing its opening and stating that it consists of twenty-nine chapters.
Its attribution to Ibn al-Qayyim is further substantiated by passages containing lines from his own poetry, including his famous al-Nuniyya, quotations from his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, and extensive thematic parallels with other works of his, particularly al-Da' wa-l-Dawa', with which it shares discussions on the harms of looking at forbidden sights, the ranks of love, and the critique of illicit passionate attachment. The work is distinct from Ibn al-Qayyim's larger, independent project on divine love referred to elsewhere in his writings as his "large book on love."
Structure and Contents
The book is systematically divided into twenty-nine chapters covering linguistic, psychological, philosophical, and legal facets of affection and passion:
- Linguistic Analysis and Terminology: Ibn al-Qayyim enumerates and analyzes nearly sixty Arabic terms for love—such as al-mahabbah, al-'alaqah, al-hawa, al-sabwah, al-shaghaf, al-wajd, al-kalaf, al-tatayyum, and al-'ishq—exploring their etymologies, shades of meaning, and usage in classical Arabic literature.
- Nature and Divisions of Love: He addresses definitions of love offered by linguists and Sufis, the causes and triggers of emotional attachment, the compatibility of souls, and whether passionate love (al-'ishq) is voluntary or involuntary. He notes the theological debate regarding the use of the term 'ishq for God, recording that while some Sufis permitted it, the majority of scholars disallowed it on the grounds of lack of scriptural precedent and because 'ishq signifies excess or fluctuation, which cannot apply to God.
- Praise and Censure of Passion: Chapters 14 through 16 present the arguments of those who praised passionate love versus those who censured it, followed by Ibn al-Qayyim's arbitration between the two viewpoints.
- Beauty, Lawful Union, and Chastity: Later sections discuss the natural inclination toward beauty, the signs and symptoms of lovers, jealousy (ghayrah), and the virtue of maintaining chastity ('afaf). He emphasizes that the lawful remedy for lovers lies in lawful union through marriage, and highlights intercession on behalf of lovers for unions permitted by Islamic law.
- Moral Restraint and Censure of Base Desires: The closing chapters examine the spiritual and worldly harm of falling into unlawful relationships, the reward of those who abandon forbidden passions for the sake of God, and the condemnation of base desires (dhamm al-hawa).
Reception and Citations
Rawdat al-Muhibbin was cited and relied upon by later scholars, including the Hanbali jurist Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Saffarini (d. 1188 AH), who quoted extensively from it in his works Ghidha' al-Albab li-Sharh Manzumat al-Adab, Sharh Thulathiyyat Musnad al-Imam Ahmad, Kashf al-Litham, and al-Qawl al-'Ali. The book has been published in multiple modern editions, including printings edited by Ahmad 'Ubayd, al-Sayyid al-Jumayli, and Muhyi al-Din Masto.
Answer updated