Ibn Kayyim al-Cevziyye and Zâdü'l-meâd

Ibn Qayyim el-Jawziyya, (691-751 /1292-1350) is a scholar who lived between the end of the 7th century to the middle of the 8th century according to the Islamic calendar (The Hijri calendar). Ibn Qayyim, who became prominent with his scientific personality, was accepted as an authority in the fields such as aqidah (Islamic creed), fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), tafsir (interpretation of Qur'an and Sunnah), hadith ( the words belonging to the Prophet Muhammad.), morality and tasawwuf. At the same time, he filled an important gap with his work, Zadü'l-me'ad fi hedyi hayri'l-'ibad which is about the Prophet's life (peace be upon him), in prophetic biography(Siyer) by inferring fiqh provisions in the works of prophetic biography. From this point Zadü'l-me'ad, it was evaluated by some scholars as an example of fiqh-sîre. Ibn Qayyim, with his work Zadü'l-me'ad, aimed at pointing out Prophet's implementations in the subjects such as jihad, worship, trade, punishment etc. He also combined prophetic biography (siyer), fiqh and tibb-e nabawi in his work. While Ibn Qayyim expressing his own opinions within these branches of science, he also took into account the opinions of the Selef scholars (the rightious Predecessors) and did not hesitate to express his teacher's opinions, İbn Taymiyyah, in his work. From time to time, he mentioned different versions of the "sanads" among narration tradition in his work basing on the method of alfaquin muhaddithûn.Besides, the diversity and abundance of resources in the work is also attention-grapping. He referred to almost hundred of resources in fields such as hadith, prophetic biography (siyer), fiqh, kalâm, history and medicine, and tried hard to choose the most authentic ones. In this study, Ibn Qayyim's scientific aspect, his life and the period in which he lived were discussed and an examination about the work "Zadü'l-me'ad" in terms of content, method and resources was conducted. The comparison of Zad'ül-me'ad, which was compiled by utilising on many resources in the fields of hadith, prophetic biography (siyer), fiqh and medicine, with other prophetic biography works similar to him in terms of content, was also evaluated. Besides the relationship with the concept of fiqh-sîre, the importance of Zadü'l-me'ad, the sceintific worth, compendious collections and commentaries of it were also included in the study. Keywords: : Islamic History, Siyer, Fiqh, Ibn Qayyim el-Jawziyya, Zadü'l-me'ad.