Ibn Taymiyyah: biography, stages of life, works, sayings, legends and historical facts

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328) was a Sunni Islamic theologian born in Harran, located in present-day Turkey near the Syrian border. He lived in difficult times of the Mongol invasions. As a member of the school of Ibn Hanbal, he sought to return Islam to its sources: the Koran and the Sunnah (the prophetic traditions of Muhammad). Sheikh ibn Taymiyyah did not consider the Mongols to be true Muslims and called for war against them. He believed that real Islam was based on the way of life and faith of the Salaf (early Muslims). He criticized Shiites and Sufis for revering their imams and sheikhs and believing in their divinity. He also condemned the worship of the relics of the saints and the pilgrimage to them.

Sheikh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah was intolerant of Christians. He argued that this religion distorted the teachings of Jesus, which was the message of Islam. He also criticized Islamic philosophy and accused Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina and al-Frabi of disbelief for their statements about the eternity of the world,who leave no room for Allah. Ibn Taymiyyah, cooperating with the authorities, often clashed with them. The same rulers appointed him to high positions and deprived him of his freedom, not agreeing with his views. However, he had a large following and about 100,000 people, including many women, mourned him at the funeral.

Ibn Taymiyyah did much to revive the popularity of Hanbali Law School. He is often quoted by Islamists. His belief that Muslims who do not abide by Shariah live in ignorance was adopted by 20th-century thinkers such as Sayyid Qutb and Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.

Biography

Sheikhul-Islam ibn Taymiyyah was born on 1263-22-01 in Harran (Mesopotamia) in a family of famous theologians. His grandfather, Abu al-Barkat Majiddin ibn Taymiyyah al-Hanbali (died 1255), taught at the Hanbali School of Fiqh. The achievements of his father Shihabuddin Abdulkhalim ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1284) are also well known.

In 1268, the Mongol invasion forced the family to move to Damascus, then ruled by the Egyptian Mamluks. Here his father preached from the pulpit of the Umayyad mosque. Following in his footsteps, his son studied with the great scholars of his time, among whom was Zainab bint Makki, from whom he learned the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad).

Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taymiyyah was a diligent student and got acquainted with the secular and religious sciences of his time. He paid special attention to Arabic literature and, in addition to mathematics and calligraphy, mastered grammar and lexicography. His father taught him jurisprudence,he became a representative of the Hanbali school of law, although he remained faithful to it throughout his life, he acquired an extensive knowledge of the Qur'an and hadith. He also studied dogmatic theology (kalam), philosophy and Sufism, which he later heavily criticized.

The biography of Ibn Taymiyyah is marked by constant conflicts with the authorities. Back in 1293, he came into conflict with the ruler of Syria, who pardoned a Christian accused of insulting the Prophet, whom he sentenced to death. The act of defiance ended with the first in a series of many conclusions of Ibn Taymiyyah. In 1298 he was accused of anthropomorphism (attributing human qualities to God) and of contemptuous criticism of the legitimacy of dogmatic theology.

In 1282, Ibn Taymiyyah was appointed a teacher of Hanbali jurisprudence, and also preached in the Great Mosque. He began to condemn both the Sufis and the Mongols, whose Islam he did not recognize. Ibn Tamiya issued a fatwa in which he accused the Mongols of preferring not Sharia, but their own Yasa law, and therefore living in ignorance. For this reason, it was the duty of every believer to wage jihad against them. After the Mongols were defeated by the Abbasids in 1258, the Muslim world broke up into smaller political units. Ibn Taymiyyah wanted to reunite Islam.

In 1299, he was dismissed from his post after a fatwa (legal opinion) that other jurists did not like. Nevertheless, the next year the Sultan hired him again, this time to support the anti-Mongol campaign in Cairo, towhich he was well suited to. However, in Cairo, he fell out of favor with the authorities due to his literal understanding of the Qur'anic verses in which God was described as possessing body parts, and he was imprisoned for 18 months. Released in 1308, the theologian was soon imprisoned again for condemning Sufi prayers to saints. Ibn Taymiyyah was held in the prisons of Cairo and Alexandria.

In 1313 he was allowed to resume teaching in Damascus, where he spent the last 15 years of his life. Here he gathered a circle of his students.

In 1318, the Sultan forbade him to make any judgments about divorce, because he did not agree with the popular opinion about the validity of a unilateral dissolution of marriage. When he continued to speak on this topic, he was deprived of his liberty. Released again in 1321, he was re-imprisoned in 1326, but continued to write until he was denied pen and paper.

The last arrest in the biography of Ibn Taymiyyah in 1326 was caused by his condemnation of Shia Islam at a time when the authorities were trying to establish relations with its representatives. He died in custody on September 26, 1328. Thousands of his supporters, including women, attended his funeral. His tomb has been preserved and is widely revered.

Political activities

The biography of Sheikh ibn Taymiyyah speaks of his political activity. In 1300, he participated in the resistance to the Mongol occupation of Damascus and personally went to the camp of a Mongol general to negotiate the release of prisoners, insisting thatthat Christians as "protected people" and Muslims be set free. In 1305, he took part in the battle against the Mongols at Shahav, where he fought various groups of Shiites in Syria.

Controversy

Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taymiyyah argued intensely regarding:

• Keservan Shiites in Lebanon;
• of the Order of Rifai Sufis;
• of the Ittihadi school that developed from the teachings of Ibn Arabi (died 1240), whose views he denounced as heretical and anti-Christian.

Views

Sheikh Islam ibn Taymiyyah believed that most of the Islamic theologians of his time had departed from the correct understanding of the Koran and sacred tradition (Sunnah). He sought:

• restore understanding of the true commitment to Tawhid (monotheism);
• to eradicate beliefs and customs that were considered alien to Islam;
• to revive orthodox thought and related disciplines.

Ibn Taymiyyah believed that the first three generations of Islam - Muhammad, his companions and their followers from the earliest generations of Muslims were the best role models in Islamic life. Their practice, together with the Koran, was, in his opinion, an infallible guide to life. Any deviation from them was considered by him as a bidah, or innovation, and was to be prohibited.

The following statement of Ibn Taymiyyah is known: “What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart; wherever I go, he is with me, inseparable from me. For me, prison is a hermit's cell; execution - a chance to become a martyr; exile– the ability to travel.”

Quranic literalism

The Islamic theologian preferred an extremely literal interpretation of the Quran. To the delusions of ibn Taymiyyah, his opponents include anthropomorphism. He considered the metaphorical references to the hand, foot, shins and face of Allah to be true, although he insisted that the hand of Allah was incomparable to the hands of his creations. His statement is known that Allah will descend from heaven on the Day of Judgment, just as he descends from the pulpit. Some of his critics argued that this violated the Islamic concept of Tawhid (divine unity).

Sufism

Ibn Taymiyyah was a severe critic of the antinomic interpretations of Islamic mysticism (Sufism). He believed that Islamic law (Sharia) should be applied equally to ordinary Muslims and mystics.

Most theologians (including the Salafis) believed that he rejected the creed used by most Sufis (the creed of al-Ashari). This seems to be confirmed by some of his works, especially in Al-Aqidat al-Waasitiya, in which he refuted the Ash'ari, Jahmite and Mu'tazilite methodology adopted by the Sufis regarding the assertion of the Attributes of Allah.

However, some non-Muslim theologians disputed this point. In 1973, George Maqdisi published an article in the American Journal of Arab Studies, "Ibn Taymiyyah: A Sufi of the Qadiriya Order," in which he argued that the Islamic theologian was himself a Qadarite Sufi and opposed only antinomian versions of Sufism. In support ofof their views, his followers cite the work "Sharh Futuh al-Ghaib", which is a commentary on the work of the famous Sufi sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani "Revelations of the Invisible". Ibn Taymiyyah is mentioned in the literature of the Qadiriyya order as a link in their chain of spiritual tradition. He himself wrote that he wore the blessed Sufi cloak of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, between whom and him were two Sufi Sheikhs.

About shrines

As a supporter of Tawheed, Ibn Taymiyyah is extremely skeptical about giving any unreasonable religious honors to shrines (even Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa) so that they do not somehow equal and compete with the sanctity of the two most revered Islamic mosques - Meccan (Masjid al-Haram) and Medina (Masjid al-Nabawi).

About Christianity

Islam ibn Taymiyyah wrote a lengthy response to a letter from Bishop Paul of Antioch (1140-1180) that was widely circulated in the Muslim world. He dismissed the oft-quoted hadeeth that one who harms a dhimmi (a member of a protected community) harms him as false, arguing that this hadeeth was "absolute protection for the unbelievers" and moreover was a parody of justice, for like in the case of Muslims, there are times when they deserve punishment and physical harm. Christians should from this point of view "feel subjugated" when they pay the jizya tax.

Muslims should separate and distance themselves from other communities. Dissimilationshould concern all aspects of life, practice, clothing, prayer and worship. Ibn Taymiyyah cites a hadith that one who cultivates likeness to the people is one of them. Some Muslims have actually joined some of the Christian holidays by participating in processions and painting Easter eggs, preparing special meals, putting on new clothes, decorating houses and lighting fires. In his opinion, the faithful not only should not participate in any such celebration, but should not even sell anything that might be necessary for this or give gifts to Christians.

Ibn Taymiyyah supported the rules forbidding infidels to wear the same clothes as Muslims. He also advocated the collection of jizya from monks engaged in agriculture or commerce, while in some places all monks and priests were exempted from this tax.

Imam ibn Taymiyyah emphasized that Muslims should not enter into alliances with Christians, as happened during the wars against the Mongols. Anything that could corrupt the strict monotheism of Islam was to be rejected.

Christians complained that closing their churches was a violation of the Pact of Umar, but Ibn Taymiyyah ruled that if the Sultan decided to destroy every church in Muslim territory, he would have the right to do so.

The Shiite Fatimids, who were too soft in their treatment of Christians, were subjected to many accusations from his side. They ruled outside the Sharia, so, in his opinion, it is not surprising that they were defeated by the crusaders. It was better, Taimiyah advised, to hire a less capable Muslim than a more capable Christian, although many caliphs practiced the opposite. In his opinion, Muslims do not need Christians, they should "be independent of them." Practices such as visiting the tombs of saints, praying to them, preparing banners, forming processions for the leaders of Sufi orders, were borrowed innovations (bidu). The Trinity, the crucifixion and even the Eucharist were Christian symbols.

Ibn Taymiyyah claimed that the Bible was corrupted (subjected to tahrif). He denied that verse 2:62 of the Qur'an could give Christians hope of consolation, arguing that it only mentions those who believed in Muhammad's message. Only those who accept Muhammad as a prophet can expect to be among the righteous.

Legacy

The fruitful creative biography of Sheikhul-Islam ibn Taymiyyah left a significant collection of works, which is widely reprinted in Syria, Egypt, Arabia and India. His writings extended and justified his religious and political activities and were characterized by rich content, sobriety and a skillful polemical style. Among the many books and essays written by Ibn Taymiyyah, the following works stand out:

• "Majmu al-Fatwa" ("Great collection of fatwas"). For example, volumes 10-11 contain legal conclusions explaining Sufism and ethics.
• “Minhaj al-Sunnah” (“The Way of the Sunnah”) is a polemic with the Shiite theologian Allameh Hilli, in which the author criticizes Shiism, Kharijites, Mutazilites and Ashharites.
• "Refutation of logicians" - an attemptchallenge the Greek logic and theses of Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, Ibn Sabin. In the book, the author condemns the Sufis for using dance and music to achieve religious ecstasy.
• "Al-Furqan" - Ibn Taymiyyah's work on Sufism with criticism of contemporary practices, including the cult of saints and miracles.
• "Al-Asma wa's-Sifaat" ("The Names and Attributes of Allah").
• "Al-Iman" ("Faith").
• "Al-Ubudiyah" ("Subject of Allah").

Al-Aqida Al-Waasitiya (The Creed) is one of the more famous books of Taymiyyah, which was written in response to a request from a judge from Wasita to state his views on Islamic theology. This book consists of several chapters. In the first chapter, the author identified a group of believers, which he called "Al-Firqa al-Najiya" (Party of Deliverance.) He quotes a hadith in which Muhammad promised that only one group of his faithful followers would remain until the day of Resurrection. Here Ibn Taymiyyah defines jama'a and says that only one sect out of 73 will enter janna (heaven) The second chapter is the point of view of Ahus Sunnah, which lists the attributes of Allah, based on the Qur'an and Sunnah without negation, anthropomorphism, tahrif (changes) and takif (doubts). In addition, the book describes the 6 pillars of the Muslim faith - faith in Allah, his angels, prophets, Scripture, Judgment Day and Predestination.

Biography of Ibn Taymiyyah: students and followers

They are Ibn Kathir (1301-1372), Ibn al-Qayyim (1292-1350), al-Dhahabi (1274-1348), Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792).

OnThroughout history, Sunni scholars and thinkers have praised Ibn Taymiyyah.

According to ibn Katir, he knew the fiqh of the madhhabs so well that he was better versed in it than the contemporary followers of this Muslim movement. He was a specialist in fundamental and auxiliary questions, grammar, language and other sciences. Every scientist who spoke to him considered him an expert in his field of knowledge. As for the hadith, he was a hafiz, able to distinguish between weak and strong transmitters.

Another student of Ibn Taymiyyah Al-Dhahabi called him a man unsurpassed in knowledge, knowledge, intelligence, memorization, generosity, asceticism, excessive courage and an abundance of written works. And this was not an exaggeration. He had no equal among the imams, followers, or their successors.

A more modern Sunni thinker, the eighteenth-century Arab reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab studied the works and biography of Ibn Taymiyyah and sought to revive his teachings. His students in 1926 took control of the territory of modern Saudi Arabia, where only the legal school of Ibn Hanbal was recognized. The works of Ibn Taymiyyah became the basis of modern Salafism. Osama bin Laden quoted him.

Other followers of Ibn Taymiyyah include the thinker Sayyid Qutb, who used some of his writings to justify rebellion against Muslim rule and society.

The Islamic theologian is revered as an intellectual and spiritual exemplar by many Salafists. Also, Ibn Taymiyyah is the source of Wahhabism, strictlya traditional movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who drew his ideas from his writings. He has influenced various movements that seek to reform traditional ideologies by returning to the sources. Terrorist organizations such as the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State often cite Ibn Taymiyyah in their propaganda to justify their crimes against women, Shiites, Sufis, and other religions.