Tawdih al-Maqsud min Haiyyat Ibn Abi Dawud
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- Muʾassasat Waqf al-Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Barrāk
Tawdih al-Maqsud min Haiyyat Ibn Abi Dawud (Clarification of the Intent of Ibn Abi Dawud’s Haiyyah Poem) is a concise commentary on theological creed by the contemporary Saudi scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Barrak . It explicates al-Manzumah al-Haiyyah, a classical didactic poem on traditional Sunni doctrine composed by the hadith scholar Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Dawud (d. 316 AH) .
Background and Composition
The commentary originated as a series of lectures delivered across six sessions in 1423 AH during the ninth educational course held at the Mosque of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in Riyadh . These recorded lectures were transcribed, revised, and prepared for publication . The text was first published in 1430 AH by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh under the title Tawdih al-Maqsud fi Nazm Ibn Abi Dawud, prepared through Shabakat Nur al-Islam and reviewed by Ibrahim al-Azraq .
A subsequent revised edition was later prepared through the author's endowment foundation, in which the full commentary was read back to al-Barrak for direct correction, refinement, and expansion . The editorial apparatus collated the poetic text against earlier printed versions edited by Muhammad Jamil al-Shatti (1350 AH) and Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Salam (1351 AH), alongside citations in classical works such as Ibn Shahin's Sharh Madhahib Ahl al-Sunnah, Ibn Abi Ya'la's Tabaqat al-Hanabilah, al-Dhahabi's Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' and al-Uluww, and the commentaries of Ibn al-Banna and al-Saffarini .
Content and Structure
The commentary follows the forty-verse recension of the poem, elucidating the fundamental articles of traditional Sunni theology (aqidah) :
- Adherence to Revelation: The opening lines stress clinging to the Quran and the Sunnah, shunning religious innovations, and prioritizing prophetic statements over personal opinions .
- Divine Speech and the Quran: The author comments on the affirmation that the Quran is the uncreated speech of God, refuting the Jahmiyyah, the waqifiyyah (those who suspend judgment), and the lafziyyah .
- Divine Attributes: The text addresses the affirmation of the believers' vision of God (ru'yah) in the Hereafter, God's Hands, and the nightly descent (nuzul) of God to the lowest heaven without inquiring into modality (bila kayf) .
- The Companions and Early Imams: The work covers the superiority and ranking of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs—Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali—as well as the remainder of the Ten Promised Paradise, the Prophet's wives (such as Khadijah and Aisha), his grandsons, Mu'awiyah, and the Companions generally . It also praises leading early jurists, including Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
- Eschatology and Divine Decree: The commentary clarifies belief in Divine Decree (qadar), the trial and punishment in the grave by the angels Munkar and Nakir, the prophetic Basin (al-hawd), the Scale (al-mizan), Intercession (al-shafa'ah), and the rescue of monotheists from the Hellfire .
- Definition of Faith: The work defines faith (iman) as consisting of speech, intention, and action, increasing with acts of obedience and decreasing through sins . It rejects both the Kharijite stance of declaring sinful Muslims to be disbelievers and the Murji'ite trivialization of religious obligations, concluding with an admonition against disparaging the scholars of hadith (Ahl al-Hadith) .
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