When Shaykh al-Islām was finally imprisoned, his followers dispersed, and his books were scattered. His companions were threatened against ever allowing his books to be seen or made apparent. Each of them hid the books they possessed, refusing to let anyone be acquainted with them. The situation persisted; a man fleeing with whatever books he owned, others ridded themselves of his work by selling them or giving them away as gifts, or simply squirrelling them away in a hiding place and abandoning them there. Among them also were those whose books were stolen but were unable to retrieve them [out of fear to declare ownership]. Resultantly, the books and treatises of Shaykh al-Islam were all but lost; scattered widely.

If it was not for the compassion, kindness, aid, blessings and grace of Allāh, along with miraculous instances that facilitated the preservation of several of his books and treatises, it would have been all but impossible to gather them.

For I have—myself—seen miraculous occurrences that ultimately led to the preservation and collection of his work, correcting the aspects that were corrupted within it over time, and the recovery of that which was previously lost from it. These occurrences were so miraculous that they would astonish, had I chosen to describe them. Upon hearing of them, every righteous, fair, just, and equitable person would fully confess Allāh’s care and attention to his work. For no other reason except that he (رحمه الله) used to defend the Sunnah of His Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) from the corruption of the radical extremists from among the people of innovation, those who falsely claim narrations, and the misinterpretations of the ignorant.

Source: Al-ʿUqūd al-Dariyyah
Translated by: Riyāḍ al-Kanadī