A Preacher’s Mirror: Mixing Advice and Panegyric in Ibn al-Ǧawzī’s al-Miṣbāḥ al-muḍīʾ

This article examines the first chapter of al-Miṣbāḥ al-muḍīʾ fī ḫilāfat al-Mustaḍīʾ (“The Radiant Lamp: The Caliphate of al-Mustaḍīʾ”), a homiletic mirror for princes written by the Ḥanbalī scholar and preacher Ibn al-Ǧawzī (d. 597/1201). As a work dedicated to the Abbasid caliph al-Mustaḍīʾ (r. 566-575/1170-1180), the Miṣbāḥ can also be read as an extended sermon to the caliph. Its first chapter, aimed at glorifying al-Mustaḍīʾ’s caliphate and the Abbasid dynasty, displays an eclectic mix of material drawn from the Qurʾān, ḥadīṯs, laudatory biographies (manāqib), and the Sunni discourse on the caliphate. At the same time, Ibn al-Ǧawzī subtly embeds advice in his panegyric to al-Mustaḍīʾ, most perceptibly in a section devoted to a genealogical legitimation of the Abbasid dynasty where he grafts the Abbasids onto a sacred line of prophets running through the Prophet Muḥammad. While Ibn al-Ǧawzī musters a mix of anecdotes and ḥadīṯs to depict the Abbasid ancestors Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh as learned and pious Muslim sages, he also frames them as models of religious knowledge and ritualistic piety for al-Mustaḍīʾ to emulate. Ibn al-Ǧawzī’s careful blending of advice and panegyric is in line with his proposed strategies for admonishing rulers, as outlined in his preaching manuals. At a broader level, this article highlights the intersection between hortatory preaching (waʿẓ) and political thought in classical Islamic civilization.