Imaam Anwar al-’Awlaki wrote on his blog:

I would not have been able to order this book. There was a brother who was transferred from a prison in Saudi Arabia to our prison, and he had the fatawa with him. The original print of the fatawa is 35 volumes but this brother had a condensed version that was 5 volumes. The pages where very thin and the print was very small. The brother told me that he had the fatawa and that the prison was holding it. I really wanted to get a hold of it so I asked him to try his best to convince the Prison Head to hand it over to him. It took some time, but eventually he got it and was able to sneak it in for me. Having such a reference in prison is a rarity, and when some of the students of knowledge who where in there heard about this, they were adamantly asking me to lend them some of the volumes. In fact, when I was being released, while I was walking out of the jail, one brother risked walking out of the wing where he was housed to get within my line of sight to wave to me and yell out his request to leave the fatawa for him.  I did.  But because I had to ask the prison guard who was with me to give it to him, I wonder whether he received it or not. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete it all before I was released.

The fatawa are a recent compilation of various works by Ibn Taymiyyah. It mainly includes his verbal answers to fatawa that were presented to him. It also includes some of his books and letters. Contrary to what the title seems to suggest, it is not a reference on fiqh alone, but also includes aqeedah, tafsir, usool al hadith, usool al fiqh, fiqh and spiritual aspects.
The verbal answers Ibn Taymiyyah would give to the questions presented to him are a testimony of the vast knowledge of this great Imam. He would start by mentioning all the verses and hadith relating to the topic and then mention the opinions of the Imams of the four schools of thought. He would even mention the various opinions that might exist within the school itself. Then he would discuss the evidence and give his fatwa.
Ibn Taymiyyah led a life of study, teaching, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and also jihad. He participated in jihad against the Mongols. He was also courageous in his advice to the rulers of his time and spoke out about their mistakes. Ibn Taymiyyah was chosen by Allah to go through the trials of prison a few times. He was patient and steadfast, and wrote some wonderful letters from jail including comments about his experience as a prisoner. Ibn Kathir, in his ten-volume work on history, wrote a eulogy for Ibn Taymiyyah that happens to be the longest and most detailed eulogy in his entire work. He said that the janazah of Ibn Taymiyyah was the greatest janazah that Damascus has witnessed – a sign from Allah of the righteousness of this great Imam.
Next: Book Review 9: English Novels

The following is taken from Imaam Anwar al-’Awlaki’s blog. May Allah bless the Shaykh, protect him and allow him to benefit us more with his knowledge, experience and wisdom.

Book reviews from behind bars:

Assalamu alaykum all,
In this set of short blogs I will review the books that I had a chance to read while I was in jail. Here is the first:
This was during my first two months in the Political Security Jail. This was a time when I was allowed no visitors, no contact with family, and no contact with other prisoners. In fact I wasn’t even allowed to speak to the prison guards except in whispers and only for urgent needs. This was a time of complete isolation from the outside world.
I was in an underground solitary cell made up of four concrete walls with an iron gate on one side and on the opposite side a small window -rather a hole- covered with iron mesh to allow for some fresh air to come in. I couldn’t see much from it because it was about four meters high. Then there was the roof with a bulb hanging from it which was on continuously day and night. Then the floor with a mattress 2-3 inches thick, a blanket, a worn off pillow, a plastic plate, a bottle for water, and an empty bottle “just in case”.

And then there was a Quran…
In this environment there is nothing to do and nothing to read but the Quran, and that is when the Quran reveals it secrets. When the hearts are clean; when there is nothing clouding the spirit, the Quran literally overwhelms the heart.
I have never in my life felt the Quran so strongly. Thoughts, insights and feelings that I would fail to describe would come with every new verse that I would recite. Reading Quran then was not something I would force upon myself but I would recite it with eagerness for hours at end and never lose my concentration. The chapters of the Quran would carry me outside of this world and I would completely forget about my situation until a warden would slam the door open for restroom time or to take me for interrogation. Then I would wake up again to the depressing reality of this world.
So does the Quran speak to us differently in jail?
We approach Quran with a more receptive heart when we are being tested. We also come to understand Quran better when we are separated from the distractions of this world. Both these two elements exist in prison. One thing I came to realize is that the Quran does not open up its secrets to you unless you open up your heart to it. Quran does not spill its pearls to the undeserving.
Ibn Taymiyyah wrote while he was in jail that he had been reciting Quran and reflecting on its meanings and that Allah has opened up the meanings of Quran for him. He said he learned new meanings that scholars would wish to learn. He had learned from it meanings he had never thought of before and he went further to state that he regretted the time he spent in the past learning other aspects of knowledge and not focusing on the Book of Allah. Within a short period he said that he had read the Quran, from cover to cover, eighty times. This was due to the blessings of him being imprisoned. Allah says: “You might dislike a thing and in it Allah puts a lot of good”
During that blessed period of over two months when I was free of any distractions except for the interrogation worries, that is when I came to understand the statement of Uthman (r) when he said: “If the hearts are pure they would never satisfy their thirst from the Book of Allah”
Those moments are so strange to me now, and so different that they do not seem to be a reality, or even a far away memory, but rather seem to be a dream.
We ask you O Allah to make us of those who love your words and contemplate them.
“Indeed in that (i.e. Quran) is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens while he is present (in mind)” Sura Qaaf 37.

Next: Madarij al Salikeen by Imam Ibn al Qayim