KHUTAB IV: 6. IBN TAYMIYYAH (1263-1328)

6. IBN TAYMIYYAH (1263-1328)

          One of the great Muslim scholars in the 13^th and the 14^th century was Taqy al-Dīn Ah.mad Ibn Taymiyyah. He was born in Ḥarrān, located now in Turkey, close to Syrian border. He was a very pious scholar. He was imprisoned in the citadel of Cairo for 18 months on the charge of anthropomorphism, namely the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to the non-human, in this case to Allah. He was released later, but imprisoned again in 1308 for several months.

          While in jail, people saw him outside the prison helping people. So they came to him in the prison asking how he could escape and return again to the prison. He said that it was not him, but a jinni who liked to help people appeared to be like him.

          One of his sayings is about the most enjoyable thing in this world. What is the most enjoyable thing in the world? It is mentioned in a hadith about it as follows:

حَدّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ نُمَيْرٍ الْهَمْدَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يَزِيدَ حَدَّثَنَا

حَيْوَةُ أَخْبَرَنِي شُرَحْبِيلُ بْنُ شَرِيكٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَبَا عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ الْحُبُلِيَّ يُحَدِّثُ عَنْ

عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ الدُّنْيَا مَتَاعٌ

وَخَيْرُ مَتَاعِ الدُّنْيَا الْمَرْأَةُ الصَّالِحَةُ (صحيح مسلم ج٧ ص٣٩٧)

… it was narrated by Abdullah ibn 'Amr that the

 Prophet s.a.w. said: “The world is enjoyment and the

 best of its enjoyment is the pious woman [namely,

 the pious wifefor man and the pious husband

for woman].(Reported by Muslim)

But Ibn Taymiyyah was unmarried. There were many Muslim scholars who were not lucky enough to find their soul-mates, then suddenly they were overtaken by death. Al-Imām al-Nawawī, the collector of Forty authentic h.adiths was one of them. They knew the importance of marriage as part of the religion of Islam, even half of it. الزَّوَاجُ نِصْفُ الدِّيْن . But we have also to remember the saying that “It is better to be alone than in bad company,” although it is also said that “It is not good to be alone even in Paradise.” Ibn Taymiyyah said: “How poor are people who left this world and never tasted the most enjoyable thing in it.” When he was asked what he meant, he said حُبُّ الله, the love of Allah. When we were still children we enjoyed our parents’ love, but Allah’s love is more than that.

          There is another statement of Ibn Taymiyyah which is extremely important and still relevant to our present situation and time. He said: “Half an ‘alim (Muslim scholar) is dangerous to religion (Islam), like half qualified physician is dangerous to his patients.” Why? First, the physician has to identify the disease through its symptoms. Second, he has to know the medicine for it. Third, he has to know what kind of medicine is proper for the patient. Forth, he has to know the quantity of the medicine, how many tablets or how many drops he has to take. Fifth, he has to know when to take it, whether in the morning before or after breakfast, before or after lunch, or at night before going to bed. Any mistake made by the doctor could be harmful, even fatal. So, read the prescription carefully before you take your medicine.

          One example is the following German story: A medical student was having an oral examination. He was asked to identify a disease after the examiner told him its symptoms. The student answered correctly. He was asked the medicine for its treatment, and the student answered correctly again. But when he was asked the amount of medicine for its treatment, he said “one table spoon” instead of “three drops”. While he was leaving the room he stopped at the door and said: “Professor, I have made mistake. Instead of one table spoon, the patient has to take three drops only.” The professor said: “I am sorry, the patient has died.” (Es tut mir leid, der Patient ist schon gestorben). The student failed. Had he passed he would have killed his first patient.

          It is unfortunate that we have so many “half ‘alims” in the Muslim world. Pick up any subject and he would made himself dominant in the discussion, and his knowledge is based only on what we used to call “common sense” which is common only recently, such as living together and even having children without being married, and marriage of the same sex, to mention a few. According to common-sense what you can see is closer to you than what you cannot see, but we can see the moon, not

China. Based on this “common-sense” the moon is closer to us than China. You cannot convince him that he is mistaken, because he thinks he knows better, and therefore he does not know that he does not know, a complex ignorance, جَهْلٌ مُرَكَّب

            This is the most difficult person to deal with. First, you have to convince him that he is wrong without humiliating him. Then you have to tell him the right view politely. It is like filling a glass full of water with milk. First, you have to pour out the water then fill the glass with milk. It is much easier to fill the glass when it is empty. You can replace water with milk in the glass by pouring milk into it without pouring out the water, but it takes a long process to replace water with milk in this way.

          Long, long ago, after performing the Friday prayer at al-Rashīd Mosque in Edmonton, Canada, a person came to me, saying, “I want to complain to the Government of Pakistan for allowing the printing the Qur’an in Pakistan where surah al-Isra’ is called ‘surah Banī Isrā’īl’”. I explained to him that the name surah al-Isrā’ (Chapter 17) is taken from the first verse in it, namely, سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا...  whereas the second name, surah Banī Isrā’īl is taken from the second verse, namely, وَآَتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلْنَاهُ هُدًى لِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيل   ...  and has noting to do with the state of Israel. The term “Banī Isrā’īl” here means the children (descendants) of Israel, the other name of Prophet Ya‘qūb (Jacob). When I told the person to ask the imam, he said, “I am an imam.”  Imagine if he had followers and came to Pakistan embassy in Ottawa demonstrating and demanding to ban this Qur’ān.

Brothers in Islam,

          Guidance comes to humble people, not to arrogant ones. The Lebanese poet who emigrated to America said  at the last line of his poem الطَّلاسِم (Mysteries), لَا تُجَاِدلْ , ذُو اْلحِجَى مَنْ قُالَ لَسْتُ أَدْرِي “Do not argue, the person who has understanding is the one who says, ‘I don’t know’” (ANUMA 20.03.09)