Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya on the Invocation of God

Book excerpt: In describing al-Wabil al-Sayyib, here translated into English for the first time as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on the Invocation of God, the author says, 'We have mentioned [in it] nearly one hundred benefits of remembrance of God [dhikr], and the secrets of remembrance...This is a book of great usefulness.' Written in the fourteenth century by the renowned theologian Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, this treatise movingly details the many blessings of the remembrance of God. Through discussions of the ego, the nature of the body, the ephemerality of the world, the degrees of prayer, fasting, charity, and the purification of the heart, this beautifully written work is a genuine contribution to Muslim spirituality. What makes Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on the Invocation of God of great interest is that it illustrates the spiritual life of Ibn Qayyim and of his teacher, the Hanbalite reformer Ibn Taymiyya (1263AH/1328AD).