- The manuscript is held at Dar al-Kutub al-Ẓāhiriyyah in Damascus under number [567] (vol. 39, folios 145a–200b). Ibn ʿUrwah headed it as follows: “Miscellaneous benefits and fine observations derived from the explanation of a verse, a ḥadith, or an early Salafi report, all relating to the science of tawḥīd—both in its declarative, theoretical dimension and in its practical, volitional dimension.” He then added: “They are the words of the shaykh, the eminent imam, the erudite scholar, the mufti of the Muslims, the ocean of learning, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb ibn Saʿd al-Zarʿī, widely known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.” He further noted: “It is distinct from his Badāʾiʿ al-Fawāʾid; each entry is either a benefit pertaining to knowledge or to spiritual conduct, a warning against an impediment, or a pointer to an intended aim.”
This shows that the book originally lacked a fixed title; had it possessed one, Ibn ʿUrwah would have cited it explicitly instead of writing “Miscellaneous benefits and fine observations …”.
Al-Suyūṭī quoted from it in two places in Qūt al-Mughtadhī ʿalā Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī (2/610, 817). In the first he called it “Nukat shattā wa fawāʾid ḥisān,” and in the second “Fawāʾid shattā wa nukat ḥisān,” which suggests he relied on Ibn ʿUrwah’s copy.
When Muḥammad Munīr al-Dimashqī published the work, he abbreviated Ibn ʿUrwah’s wording and titled it Al-Fawāʾid. This is wholly appropriate, for the title matches its contents, and we have therefore retained it because of its widespread familiarity among readers and researchers.
Moreover, Ibn ʿUrwah’s explicit attribution of the work to Imam Ibn al-Qayyim removes any doubt concerning its authenticity. Ibn ʿUrwah was among the scholars most conversant with the legacies of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim; he preserved many of their texts, dispersing them throughout his encyclopedia al-Kawākib al-Darārī whenever even the slightest occasion arose, and some of those passages have come down to us only through his