Ibn Taymiyyah by Aisha Bint Muhammad

Ibn Taymiyyah by Aisha Bint Muhammad

The entire world of Islam was trembling with fright as an imminent
target of Tartar oppression. Iraq, Iran, and Khurasan continued to be
despotically ruled by the Tartars. Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and Hijaz were
ruled by the Memluk turks.
Simultaneously, a large Christian evangelical movement was
mounting to censure Islam. The crusaders were incessantly attacking
Palestine and the European Christians residing in Syria and Cyprus had
become emboldened to criticize the prophethood of Rasoolullah (saws),
compose works on the alleged truthfulness of Christianity, and to
invite theological debate.
As the external pressures mounted upon, several internal problems
plagued the Muslims. A so-called Muslim sect known as the Batinites
was conspiring with the enemies of Islam to destroy the Muslims. They
sought to propagate their creed which was based on Magian doctrine and
Platonic concepts and spread misguidance among the Muslims. It was
also at this time that a sufi sect, called the Rafaa'iyah, with its
neo-platonic gnosticism and Hindu pantheistic ideas, had introduced the
concepts of divination, and the use of charms and spells into Islam.
In addition, other concepts alien to Islam had been injected into
the Muslim society by influence of the dhimmis living in the Muslims
lands. By this means, the practices of worshipping, supplicating to,
or excessively praising saints were also introduced to the Muslims.
Even as the ignorant masses fell deeper into the pits of
misguidance, some scholars, themselves, had become entangled in the web
of theological rhetoric and philosophical jargon, thereby allowing
heretical beliefs to creep into the Islamic creed.
In the midst of this degradation, the other scholars of Islam were
stagnant. An attitude had arisen among them that nothing could be
added to the corpus juris of the shari'ah already formulated by the
scholars of old and that any deviation from the corpus of one's own
juristic school was a grievous sin. So it was that the scholars sought
to prove the validity of their own juristic school's claims rather than
subordinate their interpretation to the supremacy of the Quran and
Sunnah. The door of ijtihad was closed and with it any of the inherent
dynamism and flexibility in the shari'ah that would have checked the
problems of a rapidly changing and deteriorating society.
Such was the situation of the Muslim Ummah in the seventh century
after Hijrah. From among this ummah came a man who would change the
time he lived in with his exceptional knowledge, devotion, courage. He
was a mujtahid and a mujahid and he fought all of the enemies of Islam,
internal and external, being opposed all the way, and persevering even
in the face of insurmountable obstacle.
He was a great scholar, son of a great scholar, who was the son of
a great scholar. Taqi al-Din abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Halim,
commonly known as Ibn Taymiyyah, had a family history which was just as
illustrious as his own life. His grandfather, Abd-ul-Barakaat Majd
ud-Din (d. 652 AH) was a renowned teacher of the Hanbali school. His
father, Shahab ud-Din 'Abdul Halim (d. 682 AH) was the pulpiter of the
great Ummayyad mosque and a professor of Hadith in Damascus.
Ibn Taymiyyah was born on Monday, the 10th of Rabi'-ul-Awwal 661
AH in the city of Harran, Syria. At the age of seven, his family moved
to Damascus, fleeing from the Tartar invasion.

He studied with over 200 sheikhs, among them his own father and four
women. Ibn Taymiyyah was the model student due not only to his zeal
for learning but also to his amazing mental capacity and particularly
his prodigious memory. An eye-witness account of his amazing memory
was preserved in the writings of a scholar:
"Once a scholar of Haleb who came to Damascus heard of a
prodigious child, Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, renowned for his marvelous
retentive power. Coming to a tailor's shop near Ahmad's house he sat
down there to wit for the child. After a short while, the tailor
pointed out the boy sought by him. He summoned the boy and asked him
to wipe off his table so that he could write on it. The boy handed
over the clean tablet to the scholar who wrote 11 or 13 ahadith on it
and then asked the boy to read them carefully once. Now, the scholar
took back the tablet and asked the boy to repeat what he had read. The
boy repeated them all without a single mistake. The scholar got the
table wiped off again and wrote thereon a few transmitting chains of
the ahadith. The boy went through these and again repeated the whole
thing. Astonished at the feat of the boy's memory he remarked: 'If
Allah wills him to live, he would be a genius without a peer in the
whole world.' " [1]
From his childhood, he was never interested in
games or sports, and the pursuit of knowledge consumed his life. He
mastered all of the religious and secular sciences of his time giving
special attention to Arabic literature, grammar, and lexicography. He
also learned the laws of shari'ah, Jurisprudence, Hadith and Quranic
sciences, and studied the Hanbali system of law under his own father.
Besides this he also learned calligraphy and mathematics. A close
examination of his work suggests that he followed none but the early
pious Muslims (salaf al-salihoon) and it is for this reason that his
movement is often called the salafi movement. He was the champion
opponent against all of the different innovations that had infiltrated
the deen in his time.
He had a particular fancy for the tafseer (explanation) of the
Quran. Ibn Taymiyyah, himself, explains the way he used to persist in
pondering each verse:
"Sometimes I have gone through as many as hundred commentaries of
a single verse of the Quran. After I have dipped into these pages, I
have supplicated Allah to enlighten me about the true content and
significance of the verse. I pray to Allah thus on these occasions:
'Thou art the Exalted Teacher of Adam and Ibrahim. Favor me Thou with
the essence of this verse.' " [2]
Among the other tasks that Ibn Taymiyyah took upon himself was the
response to the contemporary Ash'arite school of dialectics that was
them predominant in Syria and Egypt and which was in opposition to the
Hanbalite position. He learned and mastered the study of dialectics,
logic, and philosophy and to such a degree that he so forcefully argued
against the Greek philosophers that no philosopher of note came forward
to rebut his criticism.
Ibn Taymiyyah always tried to prevent, by force if necessary, all
accretions and innovations in religion. He taken upon himself the
responsibility of acting as a public censor who would purge the deen of
any heretical ideas. He formed a society for this purpose and even
accompanied some expeditions to fight the guilty heretical sects that
has conspired with the crusaders and Tartars.
His jihad was not only an ideological one, but he also personally
participated in the battles against the Tartar army. In 699 AH, when
the Egyptians army was unsuccessful in holding of the Tartar army from
Damascus, almost all of the inhabitants of the city had fled and so
the few remaining patricians of the city, among them Ibn Taymiyyah,
decided to meet the Tartar king and ask for the peace of the city.
While the others trembled in his presence and would dare not speak out,
Ibn Taymiyyah was uninhibited and strongly defended truth and justice.
One of his companions in the delegation recounts Ibn Taymiyyah's
courage:
"I was with the Sheikh on this occasion. He set forth in his
address to the King the Quranic verses and ahadith enjoining fairness
and just conduct. His voice gradually rising, he was drawing nearer to
the king until his knees were about to touch those of Ghazan who was
attentively listening to the Sheikh but didn't appear to be displeased
with him. He was straining his ears as if struck with awe. At last he
asked, 'Who is he? I have never seen a man like him -- so brave and
courageous; none has made a dent in my heart as he!' the Sheikh was
then introduced to the King. The Sheikh said to the King: 'You claim
to be a Muslim. I have been told that you have with you a Qadi and an
Imam, a Sheikh and a mu`adhdhin; yet you have deemed it proper to march
upon Muslims. Your forefathers were heathens, but they always
abstained from breaking the promise once made by them. They redeemed
the pledges they made, but you violate the word of honor given by you.
You trample underfoot your solemn declarations in order to lay a hand
on the servants of Allah!' " [3]
His companion adds that despite Ibn Taymiyyah's remonstrance in a
strong language, the King bade him good-bye with the highest mark of
respect. he ever set free, on Ibn Taymiyyah's recommendation, a good
number of prisoners. Ibn Taymiyyah often used to say: 'Only he fears
who has a sickness of heart.' [4]
Then in 702 AH, he participated in the battle of Shaqaab and
helped defeat the Tartars
Naturally, Ibn Taymiyyah began to be recognized as one of the
leading scholars of Syria and his popularity was increasing but some of
the scholars became envious of him and resented his trying to enforce
the shari'ah. Ibn Kathir explains:
"A group of the theologians was jealous of Sheikh Taqi ud-Din Ibn
Taymiyyah because of his position in the court of the governor and also
for his acting as a public censor who had taken upon himself the
responsibility of enforcing what was lawful and preventing what was
prohibited. They were envious of his growing popularity and of the
love and respect accorded to him as well as of his learning and zeal
for religion." [5]
As a result of this and strong opposition by some of the scholars
to his views, Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned several times yet he never
wavered in his belief and was unmatched in his generosity in
forgiveness. In 705 AH, he was summoned to Egypt where he was
interrogated in reference to his belief about the nature of Allah's
attributes. Qadi Ibn Mukhluk Maaliki, one of Ibn Taymiyyah's fiercest
opponents, was appointed as the judge in his case. He was imprisoned
along with his brothers, Sharaf ud- Din 'Abdullah and Zaid ud-Din
'Abdur-Rahman. [6] Many had pleaded incessantly for his release until,
after a year had passed, he was offered to be set free if he renounced
his creed. The offer was made to him as many as six times, but he
always refused, saying, "The prison is dearer to me than what I am
asked to affirm." [7]
In prison he found his fellow prisoners emmersed in a life of sin
and he raised his voice against these abuses such that not long after
his arrival, he changed the whole atmosphere of the prison. A number
of the prisoners became his devoted disciples who, on being released,
opted to stay with their beloved teacher than to return to their
families. [8]
Perhaps nothing is as much of an indication of Ibn Taymiyyah's
moral excellence as is his show of mercy and forgiveness to those who
inflicted so much harm on him. In a letter he sent to Syria soon after
his release, he says:
"...I do not want that anyone should be avenged for my suffering
or for leveling false allegations against me, for I have already
forgiven everyone of them. I desire the well-being of every Muslim --
the same as I desire for myself. All those persons who discredited me
or deposed false evidence against me or caused trouble to me are not
the least accountable so far as I am concerned; no responsibility lies
upon them on my score." [9]
This was only the first of the many times he was imprisoned and in
every cases he forgave the perpetrators of the injustice against him
and was patient with his fate. Still, some were not satisfied, and
continued to put forth allegations against him. One of his rulings
stated that no journey to a shrine, even if it be to the grave of
Rasoolullah (saw) could be undertaken as an act of devotion under the
shari'ah. His enemies used this seventeen year old statement to
discredit him among the ignorant ones. The order for his arrest came
on the 7th of Sha'ban, 726 AH, and when news of this came to Ibn
Taymiyyah, he said, "I was looking forward to it. It has a lot of
goodness and grace for me." [10]
While in prison he completed 80 recitals of the Quran and wrote
several books and treatises. When the authorities confiscated paper
and writing materials from him he wrote with charcoal on any loose
sheets of paper he could find. He completed a 40 volume tafseer called
al-Bahr al-Muheet. He wrote in total over 500 books according to Imam
adh- Dhahabi, most of them in prison. While his enemies succeed in
containing his person, they couldn't contain his mind, wisdom, and
scholarship and while they considered that they were harming him, he
had a different perception. He writes in a letter:
"Thanks to Allah that we are now engaged in a fight in the way of
Allah. The battle we are fighting here is not a bit lower in order
than our previous warfare against Ghazan, the heretics of the hills and
the propagators of pantheistic monism. This is undoubtedly a blessing
of Allah on us, although most of the people are unaware of it." [11]
And so he died as he lived, in a constant struggle for the sake
for Allah (swt). Zaid ud-Din 'Abdur-Rahman relates that after
completing eighty recitals of the Quran, Ibn Taymiyyah started if again
with him. However, when he reached the closing verses of Surat
al-Qamar: "Lo! The righteous will dwell among gardens and rivers firmly
established in the favor of a Mighty King." [54:54- 55] he expressed
his desire to continue the recital with 'Abdullah ibn Muhib and his
brother, 'Abdullah az-Zara'ee. [12] He was not able to complete this
recitation.
Ibn Taymiyyah dies on the 22nd of Dhul Qa'dah, 728 AH. It is
estimated that a train of 60,000 to 100,000 people, of which at least
15.000 were women, joined the funeral procession. [13]
Ibn Taymiyyah revived an otherwise dying society. He was the
torch of tawheed, a fortress of courage, an encyclopedia of knowledge
and a patient servant of Allah (swt). He surpassed all of the scholars
of his time and even his enemies bore witness to this fact. His
knowledge and works continued to have a marked affect on history and he
is, without doubt, one of the greatest scholars of Islamic history.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Ibn Taymiyyah's status in the annals of
knowledge is a statement of one of his bitterest enemies, Allaama Kamal
ud-Din al-Zamalkaani:
"Allah has made knowledge of all the sciences as easy for Ibn
Taymiyyah as iron had been softened for Prophet Dawud. Whenever he was
asked any question, he answered in a way that the audience thought him
to have spent his whole life in acquiring knowledge of that very branch
of knowledge alone and acknowledged as the greatest authority on the
subject. Scholars subscribing to different juristic schools attended
his discourses and each one of them learnt something that he had not
known earlier. It never happened that he debated any point and was put
to shame. Whatever be the subject matter about which he spoke, whether
religious or discursive, he surpassed all the authorities on that
particular subject. In penmanship, too, he was equally elegant." [14]



REFERENCES:

[1] Abu Zahra, p. 56 (cited from al-'Uqood ud- Durriyah, pg. 21) [2]
al-'Uqood ud-Durriyah, p. 24 [3] al-Kawaakib ud-Durriyah, p. 25 [4]
Nadwi, Saviors of Islamic Spirit, p. 31 [5] Ibn Kathir, p. 37 [6] Ibn
Kathir, Vol. XIV, p. 38 [7] Ibn Kathir, Vol. XIV, p. 42 [8] al-Kawaakib
ud-Durriyah, p. 181 [9] Abu Zahra, p.62 [10] Nadwi, Saviors of Islamic
Spirit, p. 55 [11] Abu Zahra [12] Nadwi, Saviors of Islamic Spirit, p.
59 [13] Ibn Kathir, Vol. XIV, p. 136-139 [14] al-Kawaakib ud-Durriyah,
p. 5