(4) A Brief Survey of the Book’s Contents
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim opens the work with a captivating introduction in which he praises Allah, testifies to His oneness, affirms that He is described by attributes of majesty and characterized by qualities of absolute perfection, and bears witness that Muḥammad is His servant and messenger, the trustee of His revelation, His chosen one among His creation, and His proof against His slaves. Allah sent him when the people of the earth were in greater need of his message than they are of the rain that falls from the sky and the light of the sun that dispels the depths of darkness. Their need for his mission surpasses every need, and their necessity for it takes precedence over all necessities; for there is no life for the hearts—no bliss, delight, joy, security, or serenity—except through knowing their Lord, their object of worship, and their Originator by His names, attributes, and actions, loving Him more than anything else, and striving for whatever draws them near to Him and gains His good pleasure. It is impossible for unaided human intellects to attain that knowledge in full detail; thus the foundation of the prophets’ call—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them—is to make people know Allah, exalted is He, through His names, attributes, and actions.
He then concludes the introduction with a question he transmits from Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah:
“How can these veiled, deficient, bewildered and reckless folk be more knowledgeable of Allah, His attributes, His names and His signs than the foremost pioneers among the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār and those who followed them with excellence—the heirs of the prophets, the deputies of the messengers, the lamps in the darkness and the banners of guidance, those by whom the Book was upheld and through whom it was upheld, through whom the Book spoke and by whom they spoke, whom Allah endowed with such knowledge and wisdom that they outshone all other followers of the prophets, encompassing of the realities of gnosis what, were the wisdom and sciences of everyone else gathered beside it, any seeker of comparison would be ashamed! Then how can the fledglings of the philosophers and the disciples of India and Greece…"