Ibn Taymiya
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Abu al-Abbas Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Salaam ibn Abdullah ibn Taymiya al-Harrani
(أبو عباس تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد السلام بن عبد الله ابن تيمية الحراني,)
January 22, 1263 – 1328, was an Islamic scholar born in Harran, located in what is now Turkey, close to the Syrian border. He lived during the troubled times of the Mongol invasions.
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Life
He is said to have been born on Monday the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal 66l H. (January 22, 1263 C.E.) at Harran. Hence his sobriquet of al-Harrani. In 1268 CE his family fled Mongol invaders and took refuge in Damascus. The elder Taymiya was an Islamic scholar and Ibn Taymiya followed in his father's footsteps.
Ibn Taymiya was a controversial scholar during his lifetime. He asserted his right to ijtihad, or independent judgement, and denounced the Islam of his time as given to idolatry (shirk) and innovation (bidah). He opposed many Sufi practices. He is also said to have preached that resistance to the Mongol invaders was jihad, required of all true Muslims, even though the invaders had ostensibly converted to Islam.
The Mameluke rulers of Egypt, of which Damascus was a dependency, considered his views heretical and dangerous. Ibn Taymiya was repeatedly imprisoned by the Cairo authorities. His last fifteen years were spent in Damascus, where he had many disciples. He died in prison, in 1328.
Teachings of Ibn Taymiya
Ibn Taymiya believed that the first three generations of Islam -- Muhammad and his Companions, and the children and grandchildren of the first Muslims -- were the best models for Islamic life. Their sunnah, or practice, together with the Qur'an, constituted an infallible guide to life. Any deviation from their practice was bidah, or innovation, and should be forbidden.
Ibn Taymiya also favored literal interpretation of the Qur'an. This led to charges of anthropomorphism, that he took metaphorical reference's to God's hand, foot, shin, and face as being literally true -- even though he insisted that God's "hand" was nothing like any earthly hand.
He also resolutely opposed Sufism, an immensely popular and influential tradition of Islamic mysticism. Because Sufis engaged in esoteric rather than literal interpretation of the Qur'an, and because they countenanced practices such as prayer at tombs, Ibn Taymiya accused Sufis of innovation and idolatry.
Ibn Taymiya and Salafi thought
Some of his students, such as Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Kathir, al-Dhahabi, and Ibn Nasir al-Din, are still remembered, but he cannot be said to have founded a school in his lifetime. Centuries later, in the 18th century, an Arabian scholar named Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab studied Ibn Taymiya's works and revived his teachings. Al-Wahhab acquired a large following thanks to his association with the Saudi royal family. Ibn Taymiya's works became the basis of the contemporary Wahhabi or Salafi school of thought in Sunni Islam.
External links
Academic links
- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
- Ibn Taymiyya by Ted Horton
- Ibn Taymiyya from About.com Site
- Ahmed Ibn Taymiyya by Trevor Stanley
Pro-Salafi links
- Another biography
- Muslim Philosophy Page
- Biography by George Makdisi
- Introduction to the Compilation of Letters of Ibn Taymiyya
- Refuation of Accusation Against Ibn Taymiyya by Abu Rumaysah
- Who Was Ibn Taymiyya by Aisha bint Muhammad
- Shaykh Al Islaam Ibn Taymiyya from Fatwa-online.com
- Ibn Taymiyya from Personalities of Islam
- Ibn Taymiyya by James Palvin
- The Role of Sheikh-ul Islam Ibn Taymiyah in Jihad Against the Tatars by Muhammad El Halaby
- Shaykh ul-Islâm ibn Taymiyyah by Abu Safwan Farid Ibn Abdulwahid Ibn Haibatan
Anti-Salafi links
- Ibn Taymiyah's Deviations from the Muslims (from a Nasqbandi Sufi website
- About Ibn Taymiyya from Reliance of the Traveller by Nuh Ha Mim Keller (Sufi Shadilli)
- Survey of Ibn Taymiyya by G.F. Haddad (Sufi Naqshbandi)
