Volume One

What is Volume One of Madārij al-Sālikīn?

Madārij al-Sālikīn is the work of Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, a scholar of the 14th century known for his writing on the soul, love, the traps of the ego and the nature of the heart. It is the classical map of the spiritual journey: a description, station by station, of the soul's journey to Allah. Volume One is the opening of that map. The question it answers is where the journey begins and what guides it. Ibn al-Qayyim's answer, before any station is named, is the Qur'an.

The volume opens with a section called Guidance of the Qur'an. After praising Allah and bearing witness to His oneness and to the message of Muhammad, Ibn al-Qayyim describes the Book that was sent with him: revealed to be read with contemplation and pondered with insight, and to bring happiness through remembrance. He calls it the path that leads its followers to Allah, the light that illuminates the darkness, the cause that still connects the servant to Him when every other cause is severed, and the greatest door, which does not close when other doors are shut.

What the volume asks of the reader is set out in that opening. The Qur'an is to be read with contemplation, not only recited; its truth is to be affirmed, its commands and prohibitions upheld, and its beneficial knowledge gathered like fruit from its trees. Ibn al-Qayyim writes that it is the straight path that opinions do not sway and the wise reminder that desires do not turn aside. That posture, the Qur'an as guide and measure, is the starting point for the stations that follow.

Last updated 2026-09-11