- The al-Zāhiriyya manuscript (dāl)
Two volumes have been located, preserved under shelfmarks (1897, 1898) at the Central National Library in Damascus. They constitute the second and third volumes of an original set of three.
The second volume comprises 208 folios, beginning with “A section briefly recounting his military campaigns and the expeditions he dispatched” and ending with the words “He should beware of movement and exercise afterwards, for they are extremely harmful,” within the Book of Medicine. The title page reads: “The second volume of Provision for the Hereafter in the Guidance of the Best of Servants, composed by the shaykh, imam, learned and eminent scholar, hadith master, Shaykh al-Islam, exemplar of mankind, defender of the Sunnah, vanquisher of innovation, mufti of the various communities: Shams al-Dīn Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn al-Qayyim. May Allah Most High pardon him and forgive us, him, and all Muslims.” The preceding page contains several ownership inscriptions.
At its end, the copyist wrote: “The second volume of Provision for the Hereafter in the Guidance of the Best of Servants is complete. May Allah bestow abundant blessings and peace upon him and his good and pure family until the Day of Judgment. The third volume continues with a section on his guidance—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in treating passionate love. May Allah be pleased with its author and with whoever reads or consults it, and may He, through His grace and generosity, bring us together with him in the abode of His honour. It was completed on the last day of Ramadan, the month of exalted standing, in the year 853 AH, by the hand of one in need of His pardon and most in need of His mercy and bounty: Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abī Shāma al-Hanbalī. May he, those who pray for him, and all Muslims be forgiven. Amen.”
In the margin, the copyist wrote: “Collated up to this point against the exemplar from which it was copied, to the best of my ability, on 4 Dhū al-Hijja, 853 AH.”