Its starting point is a “Sublime Benefit” that the painstaking scholar and exacting verifier, Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, placed in his monumental work Bada’iʿ al-Fawa’id 1. In that passage—may Allah have mercy on him—he draws attention to critical parameters, weighty principles, and sturdy, comprehensive foundations for understanding and properly applying Allah’s Most Beautiful Names.

He ends the passage with these words, may Allah have mercy on him: “These twenty benefits are an addition to the principle with which we began concerning the categories by which the Lord—Exalted is He—is described. You must learn them and observe them. Then expound the Most Beautiful Names if you find a discerning heart, a tongue able to speak, and a receptive vessel; otherwise, silence is better for you, for the realm of Lordship is far too lofty and exalted for anything that may occur to the mind or be expressed in speech….”

I have judged that publishing this Sublime Benefit on its own would be extremely useful, widening its reach and making it easy to obtain and consult. By Allah’s grace I have acquired three manuscript copies of this portion of Bada’iʿ al-Fawa’id:

1. The first is held in the Manuscripts Library of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University under catalogue number (2976/F), and I have designated it with the letter (Kh).