The Invocation of God [Paperback]

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (Author), M. Abdurrahman Fitzgerald (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

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).

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Islamic Texts Society (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0946621780
• ISBN-13: 978-0946621781
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace of mind through religious thoughts and prayers, February 16, 2009

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Ctrader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Invocation of God (Paperback)

Although this book was written many centuries ago but it included lots of applicable helpful thoughts and tactics to help any one to stop the worries and achieve peace of mind it emphasize on the power of prayers and details many benefits (76 benefits) to the supplication. When I go through those benefits I stop usually at some points and I find it more than enough to calm me down and take the heavy worries out of my back and - in no time- I recollect myself and become more positive thinker rather than dwelling on any negative thoughts. It give me the power of trust in bigger power than my self and shows me ways to express myself with confidence that who I am talking to, will help me achieve all what I want and protect me of anything I dislike or fear. This unique collection of the benefits is more than just a mere collection it is different way of thinking about the ultimate power that is willing to help us and how this power encourage us to come, talk, and ask and (this power) assures us that it will be given.
I can see a lot of what Dr. Josef Murphy mentioned in his great book "the power of your subconscious mind" in this book.
The subconscious mind listens to the prayers and helps us achieve what we ask for. It shows that the pure and original version of all the religions are very common and helpful to the human being to live successful and peaceful life while the tendency to argue and challenge is the road to conflict.
Anyway, this book helped me so many times to come back to a very nice peaceful state of mind and I hope it will help everyone who read it

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ibn al-Qayyim a Sufi?, March 4, 2007

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Gogol (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Invocation of God (Paperback)

That seems to be the question asked now. Lets face it his books were hardly read not long after he passed away until early in the 20th century with the founding of Saudi Arabia and the Wahabbi creed becoming the standard and only accepted one in the Kingdom.

For much of the past 60 or more years it has been largely believed that ibn Taymiyya and his student ibn al-Qayyim were violently opposed to Sufism and little research put forward to say otherwise. It was not until the book Sufism and Shari'ah came out that many began to question both the Saudi line and their opponents that ibn Taymiyya and his student were anti Sufi.

It is now almost universally accepted that they were both followers of the Qadiri Sufi order founded by Abdul Qadir Jilani who belonged to the Hanbali school of thought that they did and that both of them were hardly critics of Sufism itself but rather certain aspects of Sufism (Just as later many Naqshbandi Sufis would be, just as Imam Birgivi was in Ottoman Turkey)

What I would ask however is if the Islamic text society wished to publish a book by ibn Qayyim which would prove his reverence for Sufism then why pick this book and not the Madarij as-Salikin a commentary upon a text by a well known Hanbali Sufi Abdullah Ansari??? My second question is WHY HAVE YOU NOT PRINTED THIS BOOK WITH ITS ORIGINAL ARABIC TEXT????? But rather given us "The arabic text of recomened invocations and suplications"

The translation is exellent but without the Arabic it has realy been let down. I would recomend this book to anyone studying Hanbali Sufism (The book Abdullah Ansari of Herat would also be of use as would 'Love theory in Hanbalite Islam')

3.0 out of 5 stars Comment on lack of Arabic, December 21, 2010

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Nora R. Hope "Nora R. Hope" (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Invocation of God (Paperback)

I have not read the book in English translation yet but I agree with the previous review that for any book on du'as or adhkaar that does not provide the original Arabic is less than helpful - both for non-Muslim scholars of Islam and for believers (who otherwise could experience both the barakah of the sounds of what such compilers are recommending we say - aloud - and the interesting subjects and manner of presentation of the original author). I am prejudiced: I feel moved by a young person chanting the Torah even if she/he does not know the grammer of Hebrew. In similar fashion, I feel alienated - even though English is my native tongue - when certain perfectly Shari'ah-following western based Sufi masters hold group dhikr/zikr in English. That, in effect is what we have here. I imagine, and forgive me for writing this before I have read it (I am buying it today), that a similar linguistic clash of culture would come from trying to chant this collection in English. However, if the main point of the book's publication is that not only Ibn Taymiyya but Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya approved of and engaged in Sufi dhikr, then it has been made and it is as such a service to Islam. All the Islamic Texts Society's books are such a pleasure to have and to hold. I will just have to get a copy of the Arabic and keep it by me as as "Vol. II"