This book was first published under the title Al-ʿUqūd al-Durriyyah min Manāqib Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, edited by Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqī—may Allah have mercy on him—in 1356 AH, and it has been known by that formal title ever since. For his edition the editor relied on a single late manuscript, designated (K) (see its description, p. 46). All subsequent printings were either photographic re-impressions of that edition or were wholly dependent on it. More recently two further editions have appeared; both were based on the same manuscript together with the Jerusalem copy (Q), which preserves only half the book, yet neither of those editions introduced anything new.

After this protracted wait, the present edition—God willing—finally does full justice to the work. It establishes the text on the most important manuscripts, collates and annotates it, provides explanatory notes, produces comprehensive indices of its vocabulary and benefits, and offers an introductory study that situates the book.

Before presenting the critical text we include several preliminary studies:

• A concise biography of the author. This has been kept brief, for detailed treatments of his life already exist in university theses and other research.

• An introduction to the book covering:
  – Its title.
  – The date of its composition.
  – Proof of its attribution to the author.
  – The sources upon which it draws.
  – The book’s topics and the order the author has given them.