Al-Hisn al-Haseen

Submission by a Year 9, first year ‘Alimiyyah student.

✒️ About the Author:

Abu al-Khayr Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf, famously known as Ibn al-Jazari. He was born in 25 Ramadan 751 AH (26 November 1350CE). He was one of the greatest scholars of the 15th century and is also known as one of the greatest Qaris of his time, he was also a Hafiz of Hadith after memorizing more than 100,000 Hadith. He was appointed as a Qadi in Sham but he denied the position due to the issues of the judicial position, later he moved to Busra, in present day Turkey, where he was treated with respect and honour.

Timur, the Mongol-Turco conqueror had then set out to capture turkey in 805 AH with the intention of taking over the Bayezid government. After capturing Bayezid I, Bayezid died in custody, he then arranged for Imam Ibn al-Jazari to accompany him on his journey to Transoxiana. The people of Transoxiana appreciated his work a lot.

After Timur’s death in 807 AH, Imam Ibn al-Jazari travelled to Shiraz, by 808 AH he arrived at Shiraz and was met by the governor (who was Timur’s paternal grandson). He was respected deeply and was given the rank of Chief Judge. In 827 AH Imam Ibn al-Jazari left for his obligatory Hajj, following the pilgrimage he left for Cairo.

In Cairo Imam Ibn al-Jazari was visited by many scholars and students of knowledge from far places all hoping to get their Ijazah from him, later Imam Ibn al-Jazari gave lessons on books such as Musnad Iman Ahmad and Musnad Imam al-Shafi’i.

He later returned to Shiraz and established the Dar al-Quran.

He passed away at the age of 79 on 5 Rabi’ al-Awwal 833 AH (Friday 2 December), he was buried within the Dar al-Quran’s walls.

📚 About the Book:

Al-Hisn al-Haseen (The strong fort) is a comprehensive collection of Duas (Supplications) and Azkaar (Remembrance of Allah SWT), It was written around 790AH (1350CE).

Imam Ibn al-Jazari has written this book to benefit the ummah, with duas for every act, time or worry, he has not left out any authentic duas in his comprehensive collection and has organized the book in 5 Chapters, each talking about different aspects, they are as follows:

• A Chapter on Duas to be recited during morning to morning, night to night covering all moments for human needs till death.
• A Chapter on the virtues of Duas and Azkar that can be recited at any time, being not confined to a certain time or place.
• A Chapter on Istighfar and its excellence.
• A Chapter on the virtues of reciting the Noble Quran and certain Surahs from it.
• A Chapter on Masnoon Duas, without being confined to any time or place.

Imam Ibn al-Jazari himself took refuge in this same strong fort (al-Hisn al-Hasin) when he was attacked by the leader of the Temurs, after reciting this book many times he saw a dream of the Prophet (SAW) on a Thursday night, and he asked him:
“What do u want?”
He replied, “O Rasool Allah, Pray for me and the Muslims.”
He saw this dream on a Thursday night, and the enemy ran away on a Sunday night.

My Review

The reason I bought this book was because I wanted to free myself from extra time and busy myself with something useful, so I bought the book from Hilm Books, and I quickly realised the worth of the book after.

The book benefited me by teaching me several duas from authentic sources and extended my daily schedule specifically in duas, the book was in order from life to death scenarios and from morning to night making it easier for me to learn and find desired duas.

The book also included small other chapters from which the beauty of other stuff such as Azkar, the Quran, The 99 Names Of Allah and Istighfar/Tawbah were learnt.

Overall, the Book is one of the best books on the topic of Duas and of Imam Ibn al-Jazari, and I would advise anyone to take a look into it.

Note: Specifics of the review have not been fact checked by Hilm Books