This substantial Arabic monograph, Ṣifāt ʿibād al-Raḥmān fī al-Qurʾān (“The Qualities of the Servants of the All-Merciful in the Qurʾān”), is part of a wider mawsūʿa akhlāqiyya, or “moral encyclopaedia” published by the Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Jawād li-l-fikr wa-l-thaqāfa (The Imam al-Jawad Foundation for Thought and Culture). Running to almost five hundred pages, it offers a detailed ethical and spiritual commentary on the famous passage at the end of Sūrat al-Furqān (Q 25:63–76), where the Qurʾān lists the traits of those it calls ʿibād al-Raḥmān, “the servants of the All-Merciful.” Rather than producing a conventional verse-by-verse tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis), the book uses these verses as a framework for exploring humility, forbearance, worship, fear of God, generosity, chastity, repentance, and other virtues that, taken together, form an integrated vision of human flourishing.

The volume distils the thought of Ayatollah Sayyid Kamāl al-Ḥaydarī, a contemporary Shīʿī marjaʿ (senior legal and religious authority) originally from Karbalāʾ and now based in Qom, where he has been under de facto house arrest and barred from teaching since 2021. al-Ḥaydarī is known in the Shīʿī seminaries, and to a wider Middle Eastern public through television and online lectures, for combining traditional learning with a critical re-reading of the inherited religious corpus (turāth). His work sits at the intersection of Qurʾānic studies, theology, and philosophy, and he has written extensively on topics ranging from divine unity (tawḥīd) and the doctrine of the imāma to modern questions about religious authority and the reliability of the ḥadīth tradition. The present book is based on his lessons but has been written up and organised by his student Shaykh Ḥaydar al-Yaʿqūbī, which helps give the material a relatively systematic and didactic form.

Ṣifāt ʿibād al-Raḥmān is written in clear, contemporary Arabic but presupposes some familiarity with Islamic terminology. The book begins with a short muqaddima (preface), followed by a set of “preparatory discussions” (mabāḥith tamhīdiyya) that clarify the key terms drawn from Q 25:63–76. al-Ḥaydarī first unpacks the notion of ʿubūdiyya (“servitude” or “servanthood”), distinguishing between forms of forced or “natural” servitude and a chosen, conscious servanthood in which the human being willingly orients their whole life towards God. He then explores ʿibāda (“worship”) more broadly – its meaning, its various forms, and how the Qurʾān presents worship as encompassing the entirety of a person’s existence rather than a set of ritual acts alone. A further section analyses the divine name al-Raḥmān (“the All-Merciful”) and the relationship between mercy (raḥma) and servanthood, asking what it means for human beings to become loci of divine mercy.

The heart of the book consists of a sequence of chapters, each devoted to one of the Qurʾānic qualities of the ʿibād al-Raḥmān. These function, in effect, as thematic chapters of the book:

1. 1. Humility and the avoidance of arrogance (al-tawāḍuʿ wa ʿadam al-kibr) – beginning from the image of “walking on the earth gently,” this chapter analyses different degrees of humility, its fruits for the individual and society, and its opposite, kibr (arrogant self-inflation).

2. 2. Forbearance and restraint of anger (ḥilmal-ḥilm wa ʿadam al-ghaḍab) – here, al-Ḥaydarī explores ḥilm as a stable disposition to absorb provocation without lashing out, contrasting it with destructive forms of anger and outlining spiritual and practical strategies for disciplining anger.

3. 3. The devotional life of the servants of the All-Merciful (al-jānib al-ʿibādī ʿinda ʿibād al-Raḥmān) – this chapter focuses on night prayer, prostration, and other acts of worship, presenting them not just as individual pieties but as practices that reshape perception and desire.

4. 4. Fear of God’s punishment (al-khawf min ʿadhāb Allāh taʿālā) – al-Ḥaydarī distinguishes between different kinds of fear, from a paralysing dread to a productive awareness that steers a person away from injustice. The discussion includes extended reflections on Qurʾānic descriptions of Hell (Jahannam), its levels and punishments, and the pedagogical role such imagery plays.

5. 5. Moderation in spending (al-tawassuṭ fī al-infāq) – drawing on verses that praise those who neither squander nor hoard, this chapter maps out types of obligatory and voluntary spending, the ethics of supporting the poor and marginalised, and the dangers of isrāf (wastefulness) and tabdhīr (profligacy).

6. 6. Affirmation of the Creator’s oneness and avoidance of shirk (tawḥīd al-khāliq wa ʿadam al-shirk bih) – here, the focus shifts to theological foundations, such as Qurʾānic arguments for God’s existence, signs in the creation of humans, animals and plants, and a discussion of different kinds of tawḥīd (essential, attributive, and in acts).

7. 7. Refraining from bloodshed (al-tanazzuh ʿan safk al-dimāʾ) – al-Ḥaydarī develops the ethical implications of the Qurʾānic prohibition of unjust killing, distinguishing types of homicide and examining the broader social and spiritual pollution caused by violence.

8. 8. Guarding chastity (ḥifẓ al-farj ʿammā lā yaḥill) – this chapter surveys the Qurʾānic and ḥadīth material on sexual ethics, the gravity of zinā (illicit sexual relations), and the social, doctrinal, and health consequences associated with it, while also discussing preventative measures.

9. 9. Repentance (al-tawba) – here, al-Ḥaydarī offers a theological and psychological account of tawba, its conditions, its stages, and the factors that facilitate or block genuine return to God.

10. 10. Avoiding false testimony (al-tanazzuh ʿan shahādat al-zūr) – the focus is on social ethics: abstaining from supporting injustice through speech, refusing to legitimise oppression in law courts or public discourse, and cultivating integrity of word.

11. 11. Turning away from idle talk (al-iʿrāḍ ʿan al-laghw) – this chapter reflects on time, speech, and distraction, asking how believers can avoid being consumed by triviality without withdrawing from society.

12. 12. Responding to and engaging with the Book of God (al-tajāwub maʿa kitāb Allāh) – al-Ḥaydarī here elaborates on tadabbur (contemplative pondering) of the Qurʾān, its linguistic and spiritual dimensions, and practical aids to deep scriptural engagement.

13. 13. Supplication and turning to God (al-ibtihāl ilā Allāh) – the final trait concerns duʿāʾ, the practice of calling upon God in need. The discussion ranges from the meaning of “the comfort of the eyes” (qurrat al-ʿayn) in this world and the next, to the role of hope, trust and love in prayer.

A concluding section (khātima) then considers the eschatological “reward” for embodying these traits: the various Qurʾānic descriptions of Paradise (al-janna), its degrees, its gardens and rivers, the food and clothing of its inhabitants, and the way these images function as both promise and symbol.

Ṣifāt ʿibād al-Raḥmān is more than a devotional manual. It crystallises al-Ḥaydarī’s broader methodological project, which brings together ḥikma (Islamic philosophy), ʿirfān (mystical theology), and traditional transmitted sources. He works with what he describes as three epistemic pillars: revelation (waḥy) as preserved in the Qurʾān; the disciplined use of reason (ʿaql); and dhawq, the “taste” or experiential insight that comes from spiritual practice. For readers outside Islamic studies, this triad offers a useful window into how some contemporary Shīʿī thinkers imagine the relationship between text, intellect and lived spirituality.

al-Ḥaydarī’s discussions of the soul, for instance, draw on the notion of ḥaraka jawhariyya (“substantial motion”), the idea that the human self is in constant ontological movement rather than a static substance. This philosophical framework undergirds his reading of Q 25:63–76 as describing not thirteen isolated virtues but stages in the unfolding of one journey of servanthood. Each quality of the ʿibād al-Raḥmān marks a different point in the soul’s movement towards greater receptivity to divine mercy.

Placed against the backdrop of modern Shīʿī tafsīr, al-Ḥaydarī’s reads the Qurʾān through the Qurʾān, using one passage to illuminate another, and he is comfortable drawing on a philosophical vocabulary of wujūd (being), fanāʾ (self-effacement), and qurb (nearness to God). Yet his tone is often more explicitly critical of what he sees as distortions within the inherited ḥadīth corpus and later theological tradition – a stance connected to his broader engagement with naqd al-turāth, the critical study of the Islamic heritage.

One of the most valuable aspects of the book is precisely this integration of hermeneutics and ethics. The commentary demonstrates how debates about the reliability of ḥadīth, the nature of divine attributes and the status of human agency are not purely abstractions but shape concrete questions: how should believers respond to injustice, structure their consumption, embody humility in hierarchical societies, or think about sexuality and violence? In this sense, the work provides a case study of how a contemporary marjaʿ attempts to translate complex doctrinal and philosophical discussions into an ethical programme for a non-specialist Muslim audience.

Taken as a whole, Ṣifāt ʿibād al-Raḥmān is a rich and often compelling contribution to modern Shīʿī Qurʾānic ethics. Its thematic structure and repeated returns to Q 25:63–76 keep the argument anchored in a single scriptural passage, even as the discussion ranges widely across theological, philosophical, and mystical terrain. For students and scholars who know little about Islam but are interested in how scriptural traditions are interpreted in lived religious communities, the book offers an accessible entry point into a particular strand of Twelver Shīʿī thought.

At the same time, some of the strengths of the work may limit its usefulness for readers without prior training. The reliance on the conceptual apparatus of ḥikma and ʿirfān means that key moves in the argument are sometimes compressed into technical terms that are not fully glossed. The book also assumes a largely insider perspective, engaging primarily with Shīʿī debates and only rarely situating its claims within broader Muslim or comparative ethical discourses. From the standpoint of an English-language academic reader, a short introductory chapter explaining these contexts and signalling the intended audience would have been helpful.

Nonetheless, for those willing to work through the conceptual density, Ṣifāt ʿibād al-Raḥmān repays close attention. It exemplifies a mode of Qurʾānic commentary in which exegesis, theological reflection, and spiritual formation are inseparable. The volume will be of particular interest to scholars of Islamic ethics, modern Shīʿī thought, and Qurʾānic hermeneutics, and it could also be used, in excerpts or in translation, with advanced undergraduate students as an example of how contemporary Muslim thinkers read and live the Qurʾān.