(1) Verifying the Attribution of the Book to Ibn al-Qayyim
The book al-Ṣawāʿiq is conclusively attributed to Imām Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—and a host of proofs confirm this. I have divided these proofs into two groups: internal evidence drawn from the book itself, and external evidence.
The internal evidence includes:
First: Those passages in which Ibn al-Qayyim refers the reader to his own well-known works. In this book he cites three of his famous writings:
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Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmiyyah. He remarks (p. 846): “We have mentioned in the book Ijtimāʿ al-ʿAsākir al-Islāmiyyah ʿalā Ghazw al-Firqah al-Jahmiyyah many, many times more than these reports from the Companions, the Successors, their followers, and the four Imams—explicit texts transmitted by their disciples and others, by the masters of tafsīr, language, grammar, jurisprudence, by the leaders of the Sufis, and by the poets of the pre-Islamic era and of Islam—some of which would suffice for anyone whom Allah wills to guide.” And he says (p. 890): “These citations we have narrated are but a small fraction; we have recorded many times more of them in the book Ijtimāʿ al-ʿAsākir al-Islāmiyyah ʿalā Ghazw al-Firqah al-Jahmiyyah.” The relevant passages are found in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmiyyah (pp. 162-510).
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Hādī al-Arwāḥ ilā Bilād al-Afrāḥ. He states (p. 915): “We have set forth in the book Ṣifat al-Jannah forty proofs on the matter of the Beatific Vision, drawn from the Quran and Sunnah.” These appear in Hādī al-Arwāḥ (2/605-714).
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Miftāḥ Dār al-Saʿādah. He says (pp. 1025-1026): “And upon this…"