saying, “Compiled by the learned Imām… may Allah continue to make his benefits widespread.” This confirms that the heading was penned by the ḥadith master al-Mizzī on the back of a copy of the work while its author was still alive. That, in turn, is decisive evidence that this heading is the most reliable of all the titles ascribed to the book, that Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī himself never composed a rhymed title for it, and that the ornate headings cited earlier were fabricated by copyists or by later owners of the manuscripts. Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn cites the work twice more in his book (pp. 64, 109), and on both occasions he refers to it only by this same plain title.
- Manāqib Ibn Taymiyyah (The Virtues of Ibn Taymiyyah)
Shaykh Marʿī al-Karmī (d. 1033 AH) records it under this title in both his works—al-Kawākib al-Durrīyah fī Manāqib al-Mujtahid Ibn Taymiyyah in the introduction (p. 51) and al-Shahādah al-Zakiyyah fī Thanāʾ al-Aʾimmah ʿalā Ibn Taymiyyah (p. 52).
To sum up: the variety of names attached to the book shows that the author did not give it a formal, rhymed title. The genuine title is the one found on the archetype, on copy (B), and in the citation of Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Dimashqī: “An Abridged Book on the Life of the eminent scholar, Shaykh al-Islam Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Ibn Taymiyyah of Ḥarrān, together with mention of some of his virtues and works.” The absence of an official title led some copyists or manuscript owners to supply their own rhymed alternatives, producing the range of designations already noted.
For the present edition I have therefore retained the title by which the work has become most widely known—al-ʿUqūd al-Durrīyah fī Dhikr Baʿḍ Manāqib Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (“The Bejeweled Necklaces: On Some of the Virtues of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah”)—especially since, as mentioned earlier, several manuscript copies attest to this very name.