NOTE: This blog has other interesting artciles on Ibn Taymiah. On the right hand side of the blog , under each month , many artciles are present. Please click to chose the topic.
FIRST
Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of Hawadith with No Beginning Existing Eternally with Allah
Note: The greek philosophers had this view that in the begining along with Lord other things also exited on their own and no one created these things. This is Kufr.
As per Islam , Allah subhanhu wa tala created EVERTHING from the state of adam ( non existence) to the state of existence.
This issue is one of the ugliest issues in belief by which Ibn Taymiyyah dissented from the sound mind and the explicit tradition and Ijma’ of the Muslims. He mentioned this belief in five of his books: "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", "Sharh Hadith-in-Nuzul", "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", and "Naqdu Maratib-il-’Ijma’".
Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", Volume I, page 24 is: If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar’ and mind showed.
He replied to Ibn Hazm for reporting the Ijma’ that Allah existed eternally and no thing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir. After these words, Ibn Taymiyyah said: What is stranger than that is his (Ibn Hazm's) reporting the Ijma’ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and no thing existed with Him.
Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", page 193,: If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar’ or the mind, but it is of His perfection. Allah, ta’ala, said that the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create. Then Ibn Taymiyyah said: The creation existed eternally with Him. Then he said: but many people confuse the self with the kind.
His statement in "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", page 291 is: We said: we do not accept. However, the daily hadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning.
In the manuscript of "Tashnif-ul-Masami’", page 342, Muhaddith, Usuli Badr-ud-Din az-Zarkashi reported the agreement of the Muslims upon the kufr of whoever says that the kind of the world is eternal. After mentioning that the philosophers said the world is eternal by matter and shape, and that some said it is eternal by matter but its shape is muhdath (has a beginning), he said: and the Muslims charged them (the philosophers) with deviation and kufr. Before that Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-’Id, Qadi ‘Iyad, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar said the like in "Sharh al-Bukhari". Hafiz as-Subki confirmed this belief about Ibn Taymiyyah in his treatise "ad-Durrat-ul-Mudiyyah" and as said previously, Abu Sa’id al-’Ala'i did too. This belief was reported also by al-Jalal-ud-Dawwani in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah". He said: I saw in a writing of Abul-’Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah the saying that the kind of al-’Arsh is eternal.
The Hanafi ‘Allamah (very knowledgeable Islamic scholar) al-Bayyadi mentioned in his book "Isharat-ul-Maram", page 197, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: Hence, what Ibn Taymiyyah thought of al-’Arsh being eternal, as reported in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah", is invalidated.
In his poem, which is famous even among the defenders of Ibn Taymiyyah, and which contained refuting al-Hilli then Ibn Taymiyyah, among of what as-Subki said: Ibn Taymiyyah has a refutation to what one of the rawafid (some deviant groups) said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw [The hashw is done by a group called al-Hashwiyyah. It is a vile group with ignorant members attributing themselves to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who is clear of them. They reported words about him which they misunderstood. Then, they continued with their bad belief claiming to cling to the Hadith. The best of the muhaddithun (pl. of muhaddith) in his time, Ibn ‘Asakir used to refrain from teaching them the Hadith and prevent them from attending his circle in Damascus. This group did not have a head or someone to carry its invalid belief, except some scattered efforts which were foiled by the Muslims. Then, around the end of the 700th Hijriyyah year, Ibn Taymiyyah advocated the invalid beliefs and ideas of this group.] whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he (Ibn Taymiyyah) thinks about Him.
SECOND
Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of the Hadd to the Self of Allah
NOTE : Hadd= limit
In the book written by Imam at-Tahawi [Ahmad Ibn Salamah at-Tahawi is a great Imam of the Salaf (229 - 321 A.H.).] which he called: "Mentioning the belief of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, according to the Madhhab of the fuqaha' (scholars) of al-'Islam, Abu Hanifah an-Nu’man Ibn Thabit al-Kufi, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub Ibn Ibrahim al-'Ansari, and Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani" his two companions and others, Imam at-Tahawi negated the hadd about Allah by saying what means: He (Allah) is majestically above (He does not have) the hudud (plural of hadd) and ghayat (extensions in area, for example).
Ibn Taymiyyah confirmed attributing the hadd to Allah in his book "al-Muwafaqah", Volume 2, page 33. He said: The Muslims and non-Muslims agreed that Allah is in the sky and they limited Him to this. On page 29, he said: He (Allah) does not have a hadd we know, but He has a hadd that He knows. What he claimed that both Muslims and non-Muslims agreed and had consensus that Allah has a hadd is strange.
The negation of the hadd about Allah have been confirmed in reports by Abu Hanifah, others, and even those before him, namely Imam Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn, radiyallahu ‘anhuma [Radiyallahu ‘anhuma means: May Allah be pleased with both of them (here, Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali and his father al-Husayn).] in his treatise famously known as "As-Sahifat-us-Sajjadiyyah". In "Sharh Ihya'i ‘Ulum-id-Din", Muhaddith, Hafiz Muhammad Murtada az-Zabidi, the explainer of "al-Qamus", mentioned with a muttasil isnad (continuous chain of qualified relators) [A muttasil Hadith is the Hadith heard by the relator from his shaykh and so on back to the Prophet or a Companion without any interruption in the chain of relators.] from him back to Zayn-ul-’Abidin the saying of Zayn-ul-’Abidin in his treatise: He (Allah) is not limited to have a hadd (limit). He also mentioned his saying: No place surrounds Him. The saying of ‘Ali, radiyallahu ‘anh: "not limited" is explicit that it is not consonent with Allah to be limited; He does not have a hadd, neither according to His knowledge nor to the knowledge of the creation.
Where is what Ibn Taymiyyah claimed of the agreement of the Muslims upon attributing the hadd to Allah? The rest of the Salaf were negating the hadd about Allah, evidenced by the aforementioned saying of at-Tahawi. He mentioned this as the madhhab of the Salaf; those four [The four great Salaf scholars mentioned above are: Abu Hanifah an-Nu’man Ibn Thabit al-Kufi, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub Ibn Ibrahim al-'Ansari, Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani, Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn.] are among the famous scholars of the Salaf. This is the madhhab of all the Salaf as indicated by his sayings: "Mentioning the belief of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah".
The deceipt of Ibn Taymiyyah has shown up and is exposed. This is his habit. He attributes the belief that he likes to the scholars of the Salaf to delude the weak-minded people that his madhhab is that of the Salaf. This is far from what he thinks.
THIRD
Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of the Sitting of Allah, Ta’ala
Ibn Taymiyyah's saying of Allah sitting is confirmed about him, although some of his followers negated this when they found it ugly. He mentioned this in his book "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah" by sayings: The majority of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah say that Allah, tabaraka wa ta’ala, [Tabaraka wa ta’ala attributes the giving and perfection to Allah.] descends and al-’Arsh does not get void of Him. He claimed that this was reported about Ishaq Ibn Rahawayh, Hammad Ibn Zayd, Imam Ahmad, and others. He is a fabricator and great lier about that.
In his Tafsir named "an-Nahr", the Grammarian Abu Hayyan al-'Andalusi reported about Ibn Taymiyyah having this belief. He said: In his handwriting, a book of Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah, who was contemporary with us, which he called "Kitab-ul-’Arsh", I read: Allah sits on al-Kursi and has left a space for the Messenger of Allah to sit with Him. At-Taj Muhammad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Abd-il-Haqq al-Baranbari pretended that he is a promoter of his ideas and tricked him, until he took it from him; we read that in it. [The author of "Kashf-uz-Zunun" reported that about him also in Volume 2, page 1438.]
This reporting of Abu Hayyan was omitted from the old printed copy. However, the manuscript confirms it. In his commentary on "as-Sayf-us-Saqil", page 85, az-Zahid al-Kawthari said explaining the reason of omitting these statements of Ibn Taymiyyah: The editor of as-Sa’adah Printing House told me that he found it very ugly and he omitted it upon printing so that the enemies of al-'Islam would not use it. Then he requested that I record that here to catch up what he missed and out of sincerity to the Muslims.
In "al-Muwafaqah", page 29, Ibn Taymiyyah said: Allah, ta’ala, has a hadd no one but Him knows it. One should not imagine that hadd for a purpose in himself, but believe it and leave knowing about it to Allah. His place has a hadd, which is on His ‘Arsh above His skies. These are two limits.
In the twenty-fifth volume of "al-Kawakib-ud-Darari", which is in the Library of az-Zahiriyyah in Damascus, Ibn Taymiyyah said: If Allah willed he would sit on a mosqito, which would carry Him by His power; how about on a large ‘Arsh!
