Fourth: The language of the fatwa, its style of composition, its manner of presentation and argument, and its approach to discussion and rebuttal all accord with the distinctive features of Ibn al-Qayyim’s writing (may Allah have mercy on him).

Fifth: The eminent Hanbalī scholar Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Saffārīnī (1188 AH) abridged this fatwa and included it in his book Ghidhā’ al-Albāb (Nourishment for Minds). He placed it in the introduction, in his discussion of matters relating to praise, under the heading “A Beneficial Point,” and explicitly attributed it to Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) (1).

Manuscripts Used for the Critical Edition:
We obtained two manuscript copies of this fatwa:

The First Copy:
An old copy contained in a manuscript collection bearing the shelfmark (11740 B), held in Leiden. A reproduction is held at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, from which we obtained a copy of the manuscript. It consists of four pages, and the collection has no pagination.

The copy bears neither a date of transcription nor the copyist’s name, and its handwriting resembles