Abdurrahman b. Ali b. Muhammed b. Ali b. Abdullah b. Hammadi b. Ahmed b. Muhammed b. Jaʿfar al-Jawzī b. Abdullah b. Qasim b. Nadr b. Qasim b. Muhammed b. Abdullah b. Abdurrahman b. Qasim b. Muhammed b. Abdullah b. Abdurrahman b. Qasim b. Muhammed b. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq. He was a scholar, ḥāfiẓ (memorizer of hadith), and preacher. His laqab (honorific) was Jamāl al-Dīn, and his kunya (patronymic) was Abū’l-Faraj. He became famous as Ibn al-Jawzī. He belonged to the Taym branch of the Quraysh tribe. He was from Baghdad. He adhered to the Ḥanbalī school. He was among the peerless scholars, distinguished himself in many sciences, and surpassed others. He classified around 300 works of varying sizes. He also wrote about 200 volumes with his own hand. He was a matchless person in the technique of preaching; neither before him was such a preacher seen, nor after him did anyone reach his level in preaching. He had no equal in eloquence, rhetoric, sweetness, impact, and delving into artistic meanings.
He would present visible material things as examples in a strikingly concise manner. He understood and grasped quickly. His perception was swift. He would gather many meanings in few words. He was authoritative in all sciences. He was prominent in various sciences such as tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis), hadith, history, arithmetic, astronomy, medicine, fiqh (jurisprudence), lexicography, and grammar. He had so many classified works that listing them here would be too lengthy. He has a tafsir famous by the name Zād al-Masīr. He has another tafsir, shorter than this, but not as famous. He has a work called Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd, which collects most of the hadiths found in Ahmad b. Hanbal’s Musnad, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī. He has a twenty-volume history called al-Muntaẓam fī Tawarīkh al-Umam, which discusses Arabs and non-Arabs. In this book of ours, we have discussed most of the works and biography of Abdurrahman b. Ali b. al-Jawzī.
He would record and write the news of the world in history. In the end, he himself became history. A poet composed the following verses about him, perfectly suited to him:
"You were always engaged in history.
At last, I saw you written into history."
He also has works such as Maqāmāt wa Khuṭab, al-Aḥādīth al-Mawḍūʿa, and al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiya fī’l-Aḥādīth al-Wāhiya.
He was born in the year 510 of the Hijra. He lost his father when he was three years old. His family were copper merchants. When he reached adulthood, his paternal aunt took him to the mosque of Muhammad b. Naṣr al-Ḥāfiẓ. He did not leave the shaykh’s side. He studied the sciences of recitation and hadith from him. He listened to hadith. He took lessons in fiqh from Ibn Zaghūnī. He memorized sermons. When he began preaching, he was about twenty years old, or perhaps not yet twenty. He learned Arabic language and literature from Abū Manṣūr al-Jawālikī. Even as a child, he was devout. He would guard himself. He did not associate much with others, did not eat doubtful things, and except for attending Friday prayer, he never left his house. He did not play with children. After he began preaching, caliphs, viziers, emirs, rulers, scholars, the poor, and people from every class would come to his preaching assembly. At least 10,000 people would gather in his assembly. Sometimes, 100,000 or more people would attend. Sometimes he would immediately express what came to his mind in verse or prose. In short, he was a unique master of preaching, a peerless scholar. He was magnanimous, unpretentious, and a person of lofty character. His personality was greater than his rank. This was clearly seen in his prose and poetic speeches. One of his poems is as follows:
"I have always attained precious, even superior things,
I have set out on long and arduous roads,
Desires drag me to the paths of competition,
Like the running of a fortunate person in pursuit of his hopes.
Success has brought me to goals that would tire and exhaust others in reaching.
If knowledge were a speaking person,
And I were to ask it whether it had ever been visited by someone like me; it would answer, no."
The following poem, also attributed to others, is said to belong to him:
"If you are content with little provision,
You will remain a free person among the people, one who is not resented.
O my provision for today, if you come to me today,
I will not grieve for not possessing pearls and rubies."
Abū’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī truly has many poetic and prose works. He has a book called Lafẓ al-Jumān fī Kāna wa Kāna. He has the following beautiful saying regarding the hadith, "The lifespan of my community is between sixty and seventy years":
"The lifespans of those before us were long because they lived in the desert for long periods. But when the caravans came to the cities to settle, it was said to them: 'Come on, mount up!'"
When a man asked him, "Should I sit and recite tasbīḥ (glorification) or engage in istighfār (seeking forgiveness)?" he replied:
"A dirty garment is in greater need of incense."
While he was in the throes of death, he was asked, "To whom do you bequeath your will?" He replied:
"This is a lump of clay whose ceiling is in the hearth."
During a sermon, he turned toward the side where Caliph Mustaḍīʾ was present and said:
O Commander of the Faithful! If I speak, I fear for you; if I remain silent, I fear harm may come to you. For someone to say to you, "Fear Allah," is better for you than for others to say, "You are a family forgiven by Allah." ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb used to say: "If I hear that one of my governors or appointed officials has committed injustice and I do not rebuke him, then I too am an oppressor!" O Commander of the Faithful! Prophet Yusuf, during the time of famine, would not fill his stomach so as not to forget the hungry. ʿUmar, during the time of famine, would tie a stone to his stomach, and when his stomach rumbled from hunger, he would say to it, "Rumble not! By Allah, until the people attain ease, ʿUmar will not eat oil or any other fattening thing!"
Upon this admonition of his, Caliph Mustaḍīʾ wept and distributed a great deal of charity. He released prisoners. He gave clothing to a group of the poor.
As mentioned in previous sections, Abū’l-Faraj b. al-Jawzī was born in the year 510 of the Hijra. In this year, on the twelfth night of Ramadan, on the night of Friday, between maghrib and ʿishāʾ, he passed away at the age of eighty-seven. People carried his funeral on their shoulders. A very large crowd attended his funeral. He was buried in the Bāb al-Ḥarb cemetery, next to his father’s grave, and near the grave of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal. That day was truly a magnificent day worth seeing. It was even said about that day: "Because of the excessive crowd and the intensity of the heat, a group of people broke their fast."
Abū’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī had requested that the following verses be inscribed on his grave:
"O You who are most forgiving!
O Exalted Master, with whom my many sins are recorded! The sinner, hoping for the forgiveness of the sins he committed with his own hands, Has come to You. I am a guest. What a guest expects to see Is the kindness and beneficence shown to him."
Abū’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī had three sons. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was his eldest son. He died at a young age in the year 554 of the Hijra, during his father’s lifetime.
Abū’l-Qāsim ʿAlī was one who rebelled against his father and opposed him. During times of hardship and at other times, he greatly troubled his father. Taking advantage of his father’s absence, he sold his books in the city of Wāsiṭ at very low prices.
Muḥyī al-Dīn Yūsuf was the noblest and most distinguished of Abū’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī’s sons. He was younger than the others. He was born in the year 580 of the Hijra and began preaching after his father. He pursued knowledge. He conducted research. He surpassed his peers and rose above them. He then became the muḥtasib (market inspector) of Baghdad. Later, he was sent by the caliphs as an ambassador to the rulers of neighboring countries, especially to the Ayyubids in Damascus. Thanks to the wealth and prestige he gained from this ambassadorship, he built the Madrasat al-Jawziyya in the Nashshabīn quarter of Damascus and endowed it with waqf (charitable endowments). He later obtained abundant wealth and money from other rulers as well. Afterwards, in the year 640 of the Hijra, he became a master in the palace of Caliph Mustaʿṣim. He continued in this post until he was killed together with the caliph during the incident involving Hārūn Turkī, the son of Genghis Khan.
Abū’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī also had daughters. One of them was Rabīʿa. Rabīʿa was the mother of Sibt Abū’l-Muẓaffar b. Muzāʿī, the author of Mirʾāt al-Zamān. This history is a well-organized book containing many benefits.
"Ibn Khallikān, in his work al-Wafayāt, mentioned Abū’l-Faraj b. al-Jawzī, praised him, and remembered him with gratitude for his scholarship and his compilations."