Ibnu
Taimiyah (1263/1328)
Aḥmad; أحمد
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ibn `Abd al-Ḥalīm ibn `Abd as-Salām ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Khidr ibn Muhammad ibn
al-Khidr ibn `Ali ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Taymiyyah;
بن عبد الحليم بن عبد السلام بن عبد الله بن الخضر بن محمد بن الخضر بن على بن عبد الله ابن تيمية |
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Abu 'l-`Abbās;
أبو العباس |
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Taqī ad-Dīn;
تقي الدين |
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Title
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Born
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Died
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Nationality
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Era
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Region
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Middle Eastern Scholar
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Occupation
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Denomination
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Jurisprudence
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Creed
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Movement
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Madrasa Dar al-Hadith as-Sukariya
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Lahir 661 H (1263) [1] Harran[2]
Era Zaman Pertengahan Akhir
Agama Islam
Aliran Madzhab Hanbali
Gagasan penting
Kembali kepada Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah dengan pemahaman para Salafush Shalih
Taqî ad-Dîn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah (Arabic:
تقي الدين أحمد ابن تيمية) known as Ibn
Taymiyyah (22 January 1263 -
26 September 1328) was a Islamic
scholar (alim), theologian and logician. He
lived during the troubled times of the Mongol invasions. He
was a member of the school founded
by Ahmad
ibn Hanbal, and is considered by his followers, along
with Ibn
Qudamah, as one of the two most significant
proponents of Hanbalism.
In the modern era, his adherents often refer to the two as "the two sheikhs"
and Ibn Taymiyyah in particular as "Sheikh
ul-Islam".[9][10] Ibn
Taymiyyah sought the return of Sunni Islam to what
he viewed as earlier interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunnah,
and is considered to have had considerable influence in contemporary Wahhabism, Salafism,
andJihadism.[11][12] He is
renowned for his fatwa (takfir)
issued against the Mongol rulers
declaring jihad by
Muslims against them compulsory, on the grounds that they did not follow Sharia and as
such were not Muslim, their claims to have converted to Islam notwithstanding.
His teachings had a profound influence on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab,
and other later Sunni scholars.[5]
Name
Ibn Taymiyyah's full name is Taqī ad-Dīn Abu 'l-`Abbās Ahmad ibn
`Abd al-Ḥalīm ibn `Abd as-Salām ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Khidr ibn Muhammad ibn
al-Khidr ibn `Ali ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥarrānī[8] (Arabic: تقي
الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن عبد الحليم بن عبد السلام بن عبد الله بن الخضر بن محمد
بن الخضر بن على بن عبد الله ابن تيمية الحراني).
Ibn Taymiyyah's name is unusual
in that it is derived from a female member of his family as opposed to a male
member which was the normal custom at the time and still is now. Taimiyatu was
a woman, famous for her scholarship and piety, and as a result, the name Ibn
Taymiyyah was taken up by many of her male descendents.[8]
Early
years
Background
Ibn Taymiyyah was born in 1263
in Harran into a
well-known family of theologians. Harran was a city part of the Sultanate
of Rum in
the region of Kurdistan,
now in Şanlıurfa province of
modern day Turkey, a place to which Moses was reportedly sent to provide
guidance.[13] Before
its destruction by the Mongols,
Harran was also well known since the early days of Islam, for its Hanbali
school and tradition,[14] to
which Ibn Taymiyyah's family belonged.[13] His
grandfather, Abu al-Barkat Majd ad-Din ibn Taymiyyah al-Hanbali (d. 1255) and
his uncle, Fakhr al-Din (d. 1225) were reputable scholars of the Hanbali school
of law.[15] Likewise,
the scholarly achievements of ibn Taymiyyah's father, Shihab al-deen 'Abd
al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1284) were also well known.[16]
Immigration to Damascus
In 1269, Ibn Taymiyyah at the
age of seven together with his father, and three brothers left the city of
Harran which was completely destroyed by the ensuing Mongol invasion.[16][15] Ibn
Taymiyyah's family moved and settled in Damascus, Syria,
which at the time was ruled by the Mamluks of Egypt.
Education
In Damascus his father served
as the director of the Sukkariyya madrasa, a place where Ibn Taymiyyah also
received his early education.[17] Ibn
Taymiyyah acquainted himself with the religious and secular sciences of his
time. His religious studies began in his early teens, when he committed the
entire Qur'an to memory and later on came to learn the Islamic disciplines of
the Qur'an.[16] From
his father he learnt the religious science of Fiqh (jurisprudence)
and Usul
al-Fiqh (principles
of jurisprudence).[16] Ibn
Taymiyyah learnt the works of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Khallal, Ibn
Qudamah and
also the works of his grandfather, Abu al-Barakat Majd ad-Din.[15] His
study of jurisprudence was not limited to the Hanbali tradition but he also
learnt the other schools of jurisprudence.[15]
The number of scholars under
which he studied Hadith is said
to number more than two hundred,[18][16][19] four of
whom were women.[20] Those
who are known by name amount to forty hadith teachers, as recorded by Ibn
Taymiyyah in his book called Arba`un
Hadithan.[21] Serajul
Haque says, based on this, Ibn Taymiyyah started to hear hadith from the age of
five.[21] One of
his teachers was the first Hanbali Chief Justice of Syria, Shams ud-Din
Al-Maqdisi who held the newly created position instituted by Baibars as part
of a reform of the judiciary.[15] Al-Maqdisi
later on, came to gave Ibn Taymiyyah permission to issue Fatawa (legal
verdicts) when he became a mufti at the
age of 17.[18][22][23]
Ibn Taymiyyah's secular studies
led him to devote attention to Arabic language and Arabic
literature by
studying Arabic grammar and lexicography under
Ali ibn `Abd al-Qawi al-Tuft.[16][24] He went
on to master the famous book of Arabic grammar, Al-Kitab, by the Persian
grammarian Sibawayhi.[16] He also
studied mathematics, algebra, calligraphy,theology (kalam),
philosophy, history and heresiography.[15][18][22][25] The
knowledge he gained from history and philosophy, he used to refute the
prevalent philosopical discourses of his time, one of which was Aristotelian
philosophy.[18] Ibn
Taymiyyah learnt about Sufism and
stated that he had reflected on the works of; Sahl al-Tustari, Junayd
of Baghdad, Abu Talib al-Makki, Abdul-Qadir Gilani, Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi and Ibn
Arabi.[15] At the
age of 20 in the year 1282, Ibn Taymiyyah completed his education.[26]
Life as a
scholar[edit]
Umayyad
Mosque, a place where Ibn Taimiyya used to give lessons.[22]
After his father died in 1284,
he took up the then vacant post as the head of the Sukkariyya madrasa and began
giving lessons on Hadith.[15][22][27] A year
later he started giving lessons, as chair of the Hanbali Zawiya on
Fridays at the Umayyad Mosque, on Fridays, on the
subject of tafsir (exegesis
of Qur'an).[22][24][28] In
November 1292, Ibn Taymiyyah performed the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
and when he returned 4 months later, he wrote his first book aged twenty nine
called Manasik al-Hajj (Rites of the Pilgrimage), in which he
criticized and condemned the bid‘ah's (innovations)
which he saw take place there.[15][17] Ibn
Taymiyyah represented the Hanbali school of thought during this time. The
Hanbali school was seen as the most traditional school out of the four legal
systems (Hanafi, Maliki and Shafii)
because it was "suspicious of the Hellenistdisciplines of philosophy and speculative
theology."[17] He
remained faithful throughout his life to this school, whose doctrines he had
mastered, but he nevertheless called for ijtihad (independent
reasoning by one who is qualified) and discouraged taqlid.[26]
Relationship with the political establishment[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah's emergence into
the public and political sphere began in 1293 at the age of 30, when he was
asked by the authorities to give an Islamic legal verdict (Fatwa) on Assaf
al-Nasrani, a Christian cleric accused of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[15][29][30] He
accepted the invitation and delivered his fatwa, which stated that the man was
to receive the death penalty.[29] Public
opinion was very much on Ibn Taymiyyah's side, with an infuriated public
demanding Al-Nasrani's be put to death.[17] In this
climate, the Governor of Syria at the time attempted to resolve the situation
and asked Assaf to accept Islam in return for his life, to which he agreed.[17] This
resolution was not acceptable to Ibn Taymiyyah who then, together with his
followers, protested outside the Governor's palace.[17] Ibn
Taymiyyah did not see the pardon as valid and stated that, any person who
insults Muhammad, whether Muslim or non-Muslim should be given the same
verdict.[17] He
demanded publicly that al-Nasrani be given the death penalty.[22] This
unwillingness to compromise coupled with his attempt to protest against the
Governor's actions, resulted in him being punished with a prison sentence, the
first of many such imprisonments to come.[15] The
French orientalist Henri
Laoust says
that during this incarceration Ibn Taymiyyah "wrote his first great work, al-Ṣārim al-maslūl ʿalā s̲h̲ātim
al-Rasūl (The Drawn Sword against those who insult the Messenger)."[15] Ibn
Taymiyyah, together with the help of his disciples, continued with his efforts
against what, "he perceived to be un-Islamic practices" and to
implement what he saw as his religious duty of commanding good and forbidding
wrong.[22][31] Yahya
Michot says that some of these incidences included: "shaving children's
heads", leading "an anti-debauchery campaign in brothels and
taverns", hitting an atheist before his public execution, destroying what
was thought to be a sacred rock in a mosque, attacking astrologers and obliging
"deviant Sufi Shaykhs to make public acts of contrition and to adhere to
the Sunnah."[22] Ibn
Taymiyyah and his disciples used to condemn wine sellers and they would attack
wine shops in Damascus by breaking wine bottles and pouring them onto the
floor.[28]
A few years later in 1296, he
took over the position of one of his teachers (Zayn al-Din Ibn al-Munadjdjaal),
taking the post of professor of Hanbali jurisprudence at the Hanbaliyya
madrasa, the oldest such institution of this tradition in Damascus.[15][17][32] This is
seen by some to be the peak of his scholarly career.[17] The
year he began his post at the Hanbaliyya madrasa, was a time of political
turmoil. The Mamluk sultan Al-Adil Kitbugha was
deposed by his vice-sultan Al-Malik
al-Mansur Lajin who
then ruled from 1297 to 1299.[33] Lajin
had a desire to commission an expedition against the Christians of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and for
that purpose he urged Ibn Taymiyyah to call the Muslims to Jihad.[15][17]
In 1298 Ibn Taymiyyah wrote an
explanation of the ayat al-mutashabihat (the unclear verses of the Qur'an)
called Al-`Aqidat al-Hamawiyat al-Kubra (The creed of the great people of
Hama).[34][35] The
book is about divine attributes and it served as an answer to a question from
the city of Hama,
Syria.[34][35] At that
particular time Ash'arites held
prominent positions within the Islamic scholarly community in both Syria and
Egypt, and they held a certain position on the divine attributes of God.[34] Ibn
Taymiyyah in his book strongly disagreed with their views and this heavy
opposition to the common Ash'ari position, caused considerable controversy.[34]
Ibn Taymiyyah collaborated once
more with the Mamluks in 1300, when he joined the expedition against the Alawite Shi'as,
in the Kasrawan region of the Lebanese mountains.[15][29] Ibn
Taymiyyah thought of the Alawites as "more heritical yet than Jews and
Christians,"[36] and
according to Carole Hillenbrand, the confrontation with the Shia's resulted because
they "were accused of collaboration with Christians and Mongols."[29] Ibn
Taymiyya had further active involvements in campaigns against the Mongols and
their Shia allies.[17]
Second expedition against the Alawites of Kasrawan[
Ibn Taymiyyah took part in a
second military offensive in 1305 against the Alawites and the Isma`ilis[37] in the
Kasrawan region of the Lebanese mountains where they were defeated.[15][36][38] The
Alawis eventually left the region to settle in southern Lebanon.[39]
Involvement
in the Mongol invasions of the Mamluk Sultanate[edit]
Mongol
invasion of Syria
First invasions[edit]
The first invasion took place
between December 1299 and April 1300 due to the military campaign by the
Mamluks against the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia who were allied with the
Mongols.[40] The
Ilkhanate army managed to reach Damascus by the end of December 1299.[40] Ibn
Taymiyyah went with a delegation of Islamic scholars to talk to Ghazan Khan,
who was the Khan of the
Mongol Ilkhanate of
Iran, to plead clemency[40] and to
stop his attack on the Muslims. It is reported that none of the scholars said
anything to the Khan except Ibn Taymiyyah who said:
"You claim that you are
Muslim and you have with you Mu'adhdhins, Muftis, Imams and Shaykhs but you
invaded us and reached our country for what? While your father and your
grandfather, Hulagu were
non-believers, they did not attack and they kept their promise. But you
promised and broke your promise."[41]
By early January 1300 the
Mongol allies, the Armenians and Georgians, had caused widespread damage to
Damascus and they had taken Syrian prisoners.[40] The
Mongols effectively occupied Damascus for the first four months of 1303.[31] Most of
the military had fled the city, including most of the civilians.[31] Ibn
Taymiyyah however, stayed and was one of the leaders of the resistance inside
Damascus and he went to speak directily to the Mongol Ilkhan Mahmud Ghazan and his
vizier Rashid al-Din Tabib.[22][31] He
sought the release of Muslim and dhimmi prisoners
which the Mongols had taken in Syria, and after discussion, secured their
release.[17][22]
An
artist illustrated of Ghazan
Khan, a historical figure harshly rebuked by Ibn Taymiyyah, mainly
due to his constant state of hostility towards the Mamluks ofEgypt.
Second Mongol invasion[edit]
The second invasion lasted
between October 1300 and January 1301.[40] Ibn
Taymiyyah at this time began giving sermons on Jihad at the Umayyad mosque.[40] Ibn
Taymiyyah also spoke to and encouraged the Governor of Damscus, al-Afram to
achieve a victory against the Mongols.[40] He
became involved with al-Afram once more, when he was sent to get reinforcements
from Cairo.[40]
Third and final Mongol invasion[edit]
The year 1303 saw the third Mongol invasion of
Syria by Ghazan Khan.[42][43] What
has been called Ibn Taymiyyah's "most famous" fatwā[44] was
issued against the Mongols in the Mamluk's war. Ibn Taymiyyah declared
that jihad upon the Mongols was not only permissible, but obligatory.[27] The
reason being that the Mongols could not, in his opinion, be true Muslims
despite the fact that they had converted to Sunni Islam because they ruled
using what he considered 'man-made laws' (their traditional Yassa code)
rather than Islamic law or Sharia.
Because of this, he reasoned they were living in a state ofjahiliyyah,
or pre-Islamic pagan ignorance.[11][45]
Ibn Taymiyyah called on the
Muslims to Jihad once again and he also personally joined the eventual battle of Marj al-Saffaragainst
the Mongol army.[29][42] The
battle began on 20 April of that year.[42] On the
same day, Ibn Taymiyyah declared a fatwa which exempted Mamluk soldiers from
the fast during the month of Ramadan so that they could maintain their
strength.[15][29][42] Within
two days the Mongols were severely defeated and the battle was won.[42]
Facing
charges against his creed (`Aqidah)[edit]
Ibn Taymiyah was imprisoned
several times for conflicting with the ijma of
jurists and theologians of his day. From the city ofWasit, Iraq,
a judge requested that Ibn Taymiyyah write a book on creed which led to him
writing his book, for which he faced troubles, called Al-Aqidah Al-Waasitiyyah, a work
on his view of the creed
(`aqidah) of
the salaf which included reference to the divine attributes of God.[24][46] Ibn
Taymiyyah adopted the view that God should be described as he has described
himself in the Qur'an and the way the Prophet Muhammad has described him in the
hadith.[24] He
stated that this was the universally correct view because it was the view held
by the early Muslim community (salaf).[46] This
created problems for the Islamic scholars of the time as it meant they all had
to adhere to it.[46] Within
the space of two years (1305-1306) four separate religious council hearings
were held to assess the correctness of his creed.[46]
1305 hearing[edit]
The first hearing was held with
the Shafii scholars
who accused Ibn Taymiyyah of anthropomorphism.[46] At the
time Ibn Taymiyyah was 42 years old. He was protected by the then Governor of
Damascus, Aqqush al-Afram, during the proceedings.[46] The
scholars suggested that he accept that his creed was simply that of the
Hanbalites and offered this as a way out of the charge.[46] The
issue being, if Ibn Taymiyyah ascribed his creed to the Hanbali school of law
then it would be just one view out of the four schools which one could follow
rather than a creed everybody must adhere to.[46] Ibn
Taymiyyah was uncompromising and maintained that it was obligatory for all
scholars to adhere to his creed.[46]
1306 hearings and imprisonment[edit]
Two separate councils were held
a year later on 22 and 28 of January 1306.[15][46] The
first council was in the house of the Governor of Damascus Aqqush al-Afram, who
had protected him the year before when facing the Shafii scholars.[15] A
second hearing was held six days later where the Indian scholar Safi al-Din
al-Hindi found him innocent of all charges and accepted that his creed was in
line with the "Qur'an and the Sunna".[15][46] Regardless,
in April of 1306 the chief Islamic judges of the Mamluk state declared Ibn
Taymiyyah guilty and he was incarcerated.[46] He was
released four months later in September.[46]
Further objections after release[edit]
After his release in Damascus,
the doubts regarding his creed seemed to have resolved but his was not the
case.[15] A
Shafii scholar, Ibn al-Sarsari, was insistent on starting another hearing
against Ibn Taymiyyah which was held once again at the house of the Governor of
Damascus, Al-Afram.[15] His
book Al-Aqidah Al-Waasitiyyah was still not found at fault.[15] At the
conclusion of this hearing, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Sarsari were sent to Cairo
to settle the problem.
Life in
Egypt[edit]
Objections to his creed in Egypt and imprisonment[edit]
On arrival of Ibn Taymiyyah and
the Shafi'ite scholar in Cairo in 1306, an open meeting was held.[38] The
Sultan of Egypt at the time was Al-Nasir Muhammad and his
deputy attended the open meeting.[38] Ibn
Taymiyyah was found innocent.[38] Despite
the open meeting, objections regarding his creed continued and he was summoned
to the Citadel in Cairo for a Munazara (legal debate), which took place on 8
April 1306. During the Munazara his views on divine attributes, specifically
whether a direction could be attributed to God, were debated by the Indian
Scholar Safi al-Din al-Hindi, in the presence of Islamic judges.[47][15] Ibn
Taymiyyah failed to convince the judges of his position and so on the
recommendation of Al-Hindi was incarcerated for the charge of anthropomorphism.[47][15] Thereafter,
he together with his two brothers were imprisoned in the Citadel of the
mountain (Qal‘at al-Jabal), in Cairo until 25 September 1307.[48][15][47] He was
freed due the help he received from two Amir's (ruler or military ruler); Salar
and Muhanna ibn Isa, but he was not allowed to go back to Syria.[15] He was
then, again summoned for a legal debate but this time he convinced the judges
of his views and he was allowed to go free.[47]
Ibn Taymiyyah on trial for views on intercession and imprisonment[edit]
Citadel
of Cairo, the place where Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned for 18 months
Ibn Taymiyyah continued to face
troubles for his views which were found to be at odds with those of his
contemporaries. His strong opposition to any innovation (bid‘ah)
in the religion, which he regarded as heretical, caused upset among the
prominent Sufis of Egypt including Ibn `Ata'Allah and Karim al-Din al-Amuli,
and the locals who started to protest against Ibn Taymiyyah.[15] The
nature of the point under contention was Ibn Taymiyyah's stance on tawassul
(intercession).[15] In his
view a person could not ask anyone other than God for help except on the day of
judgement when intercession in his view would be possible. At the time, the
people did not restrict intercession to just the day of judgement but rather
they said it was allowed in other cases. Due to this Ibn Taymiyyah, now 45, was
ordered to appear before the Shafii judge Badr al-Din in March 1308 and was
questioned on his stance regarding intercession.[15] Thereafter,
he was incarcerated in the prison of the judges in Cairo for some months.[15] After
his release, he was allowed to return to Syria, should he so wish.[15] Ibn
Taymiyyah however stayed in Egypt for a further 5 years.
Under house arrest in Alexandria[edit]
The year after his release in
1309 saw a change of power to a new Sultan in Egypt, Baibars
al-Jashnakir whose
reign was marked by economical and political unrest.[15] His
hold on power was short lived and lasted only a year. During this time, in
August of 1309, Ibn Taymiyyah was taken into custody and placed under house
arrest for seven months in the new sultan's palace in Alexandria.[15] He was
freed when Al-Nasir Muhammad retook the position of sultan on 4 March 1310.[15] Having
returned to Cairo a week later, he was received by the sultan Al-Nasir.[15] The
sultan would sometimes consult Ibn Taymiyyah on religious affairs and policies
during the rest of his three-year stay in Cairo.[15][22] During
this time he continued to teach and wrote his famous book Al-Kitab al-Siyasa
al-shar'iyya (Treatise on
the Government of the Religious Law), a
book noted for its account of the role of religion in politics.[15][49][50]
Return to
Damascus and later years[edit]
He spent his last fifteen years
in Damascus. Ibn Taymiyyah at the age of 50 returned to Damascus on 28 February
1313 by way of Jerusalem.[15] Damascus
was now under the governorship of Tankiz.
In Damascus Ibn Taymiyyah continued his teaching role as professor of Hanbali
fiqh. This is when he taught his most famous student, Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, who
went on to become a noted scholar in Islamic history.[15] Ibn
Qayyim was to share in Ibn Taymiyyah's renewed persecution.
Three years after his arrival
in the city, Ibn Taymiyyah became involved in efforts to deal with the
increasing Shia influence amongst the Muslims.[15] An
agreement had been made in 1316 between the amir of Mecca and the Ilkhanate
ruler Öljaitü,
brother of Ghazan Khan, to allow a favourable policy towards Shi'ism in Mecca,
a city that houses the holiest site in Islam, the Kaaba.[15] Around
the same time the Shia theologian Al-Hilli,
who had played a crucial role in the Mongol rulers decision to make Shi'ism the
state religion of Persia,[51][52] wrote
the book, Minhaj
al-Karamah (The
way of charisma)[22], which
dealt with the Shia doctrine of the Imamate and
also served as a refutation of the Sunni doctrine of the caliphate.[53] To
counter this Ibn Taymiyyah wrote his famous book, Minhaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah,
as a refutation of Al-Hilli's work.[54]
Fatwa on divorce and subsequent imprisonment[edit]
In 1318 Ibn Taymiyyah wrote a
treatise that would curtail the ease with which a Muslim man could divorce his
wife. Ibn Taymiyyah's fatwa on divorce was not accepted by the majority of
scholars of the time and this continued into the Ottoman
era.[55] However,
almost every modern Muslim nation-state has come to adopt Ibn Taymiyyah's
position on this issue of divorce.[55] At the
time he issued the fatwa, Ibn Taymiyyah revived an edict by the sultan not to
issue fatwa's on this issue but he continued to do so, saying, "I cannot
conceal my knowledge".[15][56] As in
previous instances, he stated that his fatwa was based on the Qur'an and
hadith. His view on the issue was at odds with the Hanbali doctrine.[15] This
proved controversial among the people in Damascus as well as the Islamic
scholars and the authorities who were against him on the issue.[57]
According to the scholars of
the time, an oath of divorce counted as a full divorce and they were also of
the view that three oaths of divorce taken under one occasion counted as three
separate divorces.[57] The
significance of this was, that a man who divorces the same partner three times
is no longer allowed to remarry that person until and if that person marries
and divorces another man.[57] Only
then could the man, who took the oath, remarry his previous wife.[57] Ibn
Taymiyyah accepted this but rejected the validity of three oaths taken under
one sitting, to count as three separate divorces as long as the intention was
not to divorce.[57] Moreover,
Ibn Taymiyyah was of the view that a single oath of divorce uttered but not
intended, also does not count as an actual divorce.[15] He
stated that since this is an oath much like an oath taken in the name of God, a
person must expiate for an unintentional oath in a similar manner.[57]
Due to his views and also by
not abiding to the sultan's letter two years before forbidding him from issuing
a fatwa on the issue, three council hearing were held, in as many years (1318,
1319 and 1320), to deal with this matter.[15] The
hearing were overseen by the Viceroy of Syria, Tankiz.[15] This
resulted in Ibn Taymiyyah being imprisoned on 26 August 1320 in the Citadel of Damascus.[15] He was
released about five months and 8 days later,[56] on 9
February 1321, by order of the Sultan Al-Nasir.[15] Ibn
Taymiyyah was reinstated as teacher of Hanbali law and he resumed teaching.[56]
Risāla on visiting tombs and final imprisonment[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah had written a risāla (a kind
of book) in 1310 called Ziyārat
al-ḳubūr[15] or
according to another source, Shadd
al-rihal.[56] It
dealt with the validity and permissibility of making a journey to visit the
tombs of prophets and saints (Wali).[56] It is
reported that in the book "he condemned the cult of saints".[15] He
declared that, the one who visits the Prophet's grave commits innovation
(bidah).[citation needed] Criticism
of the book arose after nearly 16 years of Ibn Taymiyyah writing it. and he was
arrested and imprisoned at the age of 63, on 18 July 1326, in the Citadel of
Damascus with an order from the sultan also prohibiting him from issuing any
further fatwa's.[15][56] The
reason for his arrest was his declaration that the one who travels to visit the
Prophet's grave commits innovation (bidah). His student Ibn Qayyim was
also imprisoned with him in the Citadel.[56]
Life in prison[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah referred to
prison as "a divine blessing".[22] During
his incarceration he wrote that, "when a scholar forsakes what he knows of
the Book of God and of the sunna of his messenger and follows the ruling of a
ruler which contravenes a ruling of God and his messenger, he is a renegade, an
unbeliever who deserves to be punished in this world and in the
hereafter."[22]
Whilst in prison he faced
opposition from the Maliki and Shafii Chief Justices of Damascus, Taḳī al-Dīn
al-Ik̲h̲nāʾī and ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Ḳūnawī (a student of Ibn
al-`Arabi), respectively.[15] He
remained in prison for over two years and ignored the sultan's prohibition, by
continuing to deliver fatwa's.[15] During
his incarceration Ibn Taymiyyah wrote three works which are extanct; Kitāb Maʿārif al-wuṣūl, Rafʿ
al-malām, and Kitāb al-Radd ʿala ’l-Ik̲h̲nāʾī
(The response to al-Ik̲h̲nāʾī.[15] The
last book was an attack on Taḳī al-Dīn al-Ik̲h̲nāʾī, and explained his views,
on saints (wali).[15] Due to
this book, al-Ik̲h̲nāʾī made a complaint to the sultan al-Nasir who
subsequently removed provisions of paper, ink and pens from Ibn Taymiyyah on 21
April 1328.[15]
Death[edit]
Citadel of Damascus the last
prison where Ibn Taymiyyah died there
Ibn Taymiyyah fell ill in early
September 1328 and died at the age of 65, on 26 September of that year, whilst
in prison at the Citadel in Damascus.[15] Once
this news reached the public, there was a strong show of support for him from
the people.[58]After
the authorities had given permission, it is reported that thousands of people
came to show their respects.[58] They
gathered in the Citadel and lined the streets up to the Umayyad mosque which
was and is still close by.[58] A
Janaza (funeral prayer) was held in the citadel by the sheikh, Muhammad Tammam,
and a second was held in the mosque.[58] A third
and final funeral prayer was held by Ibn Taymiyyah's brother, the sheikh, Zain
al-Din.[58] He was
buried in the Sufi cemetery,
of whom he was a sever critic, in Damascus where his brother Sharafuddin had
been buried before him.[59][60][61]
Oliver Leaman says that being
deprived of the means of writing, led to Ibn Taymiyyah's death.[24] It is
reported that two hundred thousand men and fifteen to sixteen thousand women
attended his funeral prayer.[28][62] Ibn
Kathir says that in the history of Islam, only the funeral of Ahmad ibn Hanbal
received a larger attendance.[28] This is
also mentioned by Ibn `Abd al-Hadi.[28] Caterina
Bori says that, "In the Islamic tradition, wider popular attendance at
funerals was a mark of public reverence, a demonstration of the deceased's
rectitude, and a sign of divine approbation.[28]
Ibn Taymiyyah had a simple
life, most of which he dedicated to learning, writing, and teaching. He never
married nor did he have a female companion, throughout his years.[18][63] Al-Matroudi
says that this may be why he was able to engage fully with the political
affairs of his time without holding any official position such as that of a
judge.[64]An
offer of an official position was made to him but he never accepted.[64] His
life was that of a religious scholar and a political activist.[63] In his
efforts he was persecuted and imprisoned on six different occasions[65] with
the total time spent inside prison coming to over six years.[22][63] Other
sources say that he spent over twelve years in prison.[64] His
detentions were due to certain elements of his creed and his views on some
jurisprudential issues.[18] However
according to Yahya Michot, "the real reasons were more trivial".
Michot gives five reasons as to why Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned, them being;
not complying with the "doctrines and practices prevalent among powerful
religious and Sufi establishments, an overly outspoken personality, the jealousy
of his peers, the risk to public order due to this popular appeal and political
intrigues."[22] Baber
Johansen, a professor at the Harvard divinity school says that the reasons for
Ibn Taymiyyah's incarcerations were, "as a result of his conflicts with
Muslim mystics, jurists, and theologians, who were able to persuade the
political authorities of the necessity to limit Ibn Taymiyyah's range of action
through political censorship and incarceration."[46]
Ibn Taymiyyah's own
relationship, as a religious scholar, with the ruling apparatus, who did
deviate in application of shari'a law, was not always amicable.[22] It
ranged from silence to open rebellion.[22] On
occasions when he shared the same views and aims as the ruling authorities, his
contributions were welcomed but when Ibn Taymiyyah went against the status quo,
he was seen as "uncooperative" and on occasions spent much time in
prison.[29] Ibn
Taymiyyah's attitude towards his own rulers, was based on the actions of the
companions (sahaba) when they made an oath of allegiance to the Islamic Prophet
Muhammad as follows; "to obey within obedience to God, even if the one
giving the order is unjust; to abstain from disputing the authority of those
who exert it; and to speak out the truth, or take up its cause without fear in
respect of God, of blame from anyone."[22]
Students[edit]
Among those Ibn Taymiyyah
taught, some went on to become accomplished Islamic Scholars.[15] His
studied came from different backgrounds and belonged to various different
schools (madhabs).[66] His
most famous students were Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya and Ibn
Kathir.[67] Ibn
Qayyim wrote the famous poem "O Christ-Worshipper" which examined the
dogma of the Trinity propounded
by many Christian sects. Ibn Kathir became an
influential scholar who wrote one of the most famous tafsīr's
of the Qur'an called, Tafsir Ibn Kathir. His other students include:[15][24][66][68]
· Al-Mizzi
· Imad
al-din al-wasiti
· Najm
al-Din al-Tufi
Legacy[edit]
Al-Matroudi says that Ibn
Taymiyyah, "was perhaps the most eminent and influential Ḥanbalī jurist of
the Middle Ages and one of the most prolific among them. He was also a renowned
scholar of Islam whose influence was felt not only during his lifetime but
extended through the centuries until the present day."[18] Ibn
Taymiyyah's admirers often deemed him as Sheikh ul-Islam, an honorific title
with which he is sometimes still termed today.[69][70][71] The
medieval Shafiite scholar Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani said
that calling Ibn Taymiyyah "Sheikh ul-Islam, will continue tomorrow just
as it was yesterday".[18] In
reference to this Al-Matroudi says, "Ibn Hajar has been right so far and
will most likely continue to be so in the future."[18] The
Ash'ari historian Al-Maqrizi said,
regarding the rift between the Ash'ari's and Ibn Taymiyyah who defended the
faith of the salaf, "People are divided into two factions over the
question of Ibn Taymiyyah; for until the present, the latter has retained
admirers and disciples in Syria and Egypt."[15] Rapoport
and Ahmad say that, "Ibn Taymiyya was, by almost universal consensus, one
of the most original and systematic thinkers in the history of Islam."[31]
Both his supporters and rivals
grew to respect Ibn Taymiyyah because he was uncompromising in his views.[29] Al-Dhahabi
praised him as "the brilliant shaykh, imam, erudite scholar, censor,
jurist, mujtahid, and commentator of the Qur'an," but acknowledged that
Ibn Taymiyyah's cantankerous and disparaging manners alienated even his
admirers because even his opponents noted his "genius and the rarity of
his faults".[18][31]
Ibn Taymiyyah's works served as
an inspiration for later Muslim scholars and historical figures, who have been
regarded as his admirers or disciples.[15] One
such person wasIbn
Rajab, who wrote a book called Al-Qawa'id al-Fiqhiyyah, on the
history of Hanbalism.[15] Others
include; the Hajib of
Damascus Katbugha al-Mansuri, the viceroy of Egypt Arghun al-Nasiri and the
sixteenth century Jerusalemite qadi and Palestinian historian Mujir
al-Din.[15]
In the contemporary world, he
may be considered at the root of Wahhabism,
the Senussi order
and other later reformist movements.[8][72] Ibn
Taymiyyah has been noted to have influenced Rashid
Rida, Abul
A`la Maududi, Sayyid
Qutb, Hassan al-Banna, Abdullah Azzam, and Osama
bin Laden.[27][63][73][74][75]
Influences[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah was taught by
scholars who were renowned in their time.[76] However,
there is no evidence that any of the contemporary scholars influenced him.[76]
A strong influence on Ibn
Taymiyyah was the founder of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, Ahmad
ibn Hanbal.[76] Ibn
Taymiyyah was trained in this school and he had studied Ibn Hanbal's Musnad in
great detail, having studied it over multiple times.[77] Though
he spent much of his life following this school, in the end he renounced taqlid (blind
following).[26]
His work was most influenced by
the sayings and actions of the Salaf (first
3 generation of Muslims) and this showed in his work where he would give
preference to the Salaf over his contemporaries.[76] The
modern Salafi
movement derives
its name from this school of thought.[76]
Views[edit]
God's Attributes[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah said that God should
be described as he has described himself in the Qur'an and the way Prophet
Muhammad has described God in the Hadith.[15][24] He
rejected; the Ta'tili's
who denied these attributes, those who compare God with the creation (Tashbih)
and those who engage in esoteric interpretations (ta'wil)
of the Qur'an or use symbolic exegesis.[15] Ibn
Taymiyyah said that those attributes which we know about from the two above
mentioned sources, should be ascribed to God.[15] Anything
regarding God's attributes which people have no knowledge of, should be
approached in a manner, according to Ibn Taymiyyah, where the mystery of the
unknown is left to God (called tafwid) and the Muslim's submit themselves to
the word of God and the Prophet (called taslim).[15] Henri
Laoust says that through this framework, this doctrine, "provides
authority for the widest possible scope in personal internationalization of
religion."[15]
In 1299 Ibn Taymiyyah wrote the
book Al-Aqida al-hamawiyya al-kubra, which dealt with, among other topics,
theology and creed. When he was accused of anthropomorphism, a private meeting
was held between scholars in the house of Al-Din `Umar al-Kazwini who was a
Shafii judge.[15][78] After
careful study of this book, he was cleared of those charges.[15] Ibn
Taymiyyah also wrote another book dealing with the attributes of God called, Al-Aqidah Al-Waasitiyyah. He faced considerable hostility
towards these views from the Ash'ari's of whome the most notable were, Taqi al-Din al-Subki and his
son Taj al-Din al-Subki who
were influential Islamic jurists and also chief judge of Damascus in their
respective times.[15]
Ibn Taymiyyah's highly
intellectual discourse at explaining "The Wise Purpose of God, Human
Agency, and the Problems of Evil & Justice" using God's attributes as
a means has been illustrated by Dr. Jon Hoover in his work "Ibn
Taymiyyah's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism".[79]
Sources of Shari'a[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah was against the
surveying of past legal rulings to derive established principles, rather he
called for the derivation of new rulings based on scriptural evidence and other
valid sources of Shari'a law.[64] For Ibn
Taymiyyah, the revelatory evidence of Qur'an and sunnah, coupled with the consensus (ijma) of the
companions of Muhammad and qiyas
(analogical reasoning), were considered as the basis
of jurisprudence.[64] For him
the Qur'an and sunnah were definitive.[64] He
viewed the consensus of the companions (sahaba) as definitive consensus but
said that which came after could not be "realistically verifiable"
and said it was speculative, unless they have foundations within the Qur'an and
sunnah.[64] He
therefore did not consider consensus after the time of the companions as a
source of Islamic law except in certain circumstances.[64]
Consensus (ijma)[edit]
For Ibn Taymiyyah, the use of
consensus (ijma) was valid if it was the consensus of the companions and that
it did not contradict the Qur'an and the sunnah.[80] Consensus
was thus limited to the companions and it could be found either through their
reported sayings or their actions.[80] According
to Serajul Haque, his rejection of the consensus of other scholars was
justified, on the basis of the instructions given to the jurist Shuraih
ibn al-Hârith from
the Caliph Umar,
one of the companions of Muhammad; to make decisions by first referring to the
Qur'an, and if that is not possible, then to the sayings of the Prophet and
finally to refer to the agreement of the companions.[80] Ibn
Taymiyyah believed that consensus or the sunnah could not abrogate a verse of
the Qur'an.[80] For
him, an
abrogation of a verse, known in Arabic as Naskh, was
only possible through another verse in the Qur'an.[80]
Analogy (qiyas) and Reason (`Aql)[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah considered the
use of analogy (qiyas) based on literal meaning of scripture as a valid source
for deriving legal rulings.[64][81] Analogy
is the primary instrument of legal rationalism in Islam.[31] He
acknowledged its use as one of the four fundamental principles of Islamic
jurisprudence.[82] Ibn
Taymiyyah argued against the certainty ofsyllogistic arguments
and in favour of analogy (qiyas).
He argues that concepts founded on induction are themselves not certain but
only probable, and thus a syllogism based on such concepts is no more certain
than an argument based on analogy. He further claimed that induction itself
depends on a process of analogy. His model of analogical reasoning was based on
that of juridical arguments.[83][84] Work by John F.
Sowa have,
for example, have used Ibn Taymiyyah's model of analogy.[84] He
attached caveats however to the use of analogy because he considered the use of
reason to be secondary to the use of revelation.[64] Ibn
Taymiyyah's view was that analogy should be used under the framework of
revelation, as a supporting source.[64]
There were some jurists who
thought rulings derived through analogy could contradict a ruling derived from
the Qur'an and the authentic hadith.[64] However,
Ibn Taymiyyah disagreed because he thought a contradiction between the
definitive canonical texts of Islam, and definitive reason was impossible[64] and
that this was also the understanding of the salaf.[85] Racha
el-Omari says that on an epistemological level, Ibn Taymiyyah considered the
Salaf to be better than any other later scholars in understanding the agreement
between revelation and reason.[85] One
example for this is the use of analogy in the Islamic legal principle of maslaha (public
good) about which Ibn Taymiyya believed, if there were to be any contradiction
to revelation then it is due to a misunderstanding or misapplication of the
concept of utility.[31][86] He said
that to assess the utility of something, the criteria for benefit and harm
should come from the Qur'an and sunnah, a criteria which he also applied to the
establishment of a correct analogy.[31][86]
Issues surrounding the use of
reason ('Aql) and rational came about in
relation to the attributes of God for which he faced much resistance.[31] At the
time the Islamic scholars thought the attributes of God as stated in the Qur'an
were contradictory to reason so sought other explanations instead.[31] Ibn
Taymiyyah believed that reasons itself validated the entire Qur'an as being
reliable and in light of that he argued, if some part of the scripture was to
be rejected then this would render the use of reason as an unacceptable avenue
through which to seek knowledge.[31] He
thought that the most perfect rational method and use of reason was contained
within the Qur'an and sunnah and that the theologians of his time had used
rational and reason in a flawed manner.[31]
Criticism of the Grammarians[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah had mastered the
grammar of Arabic and one of the books which he studied was the book of Arabic
grammar called Al-Kitab, by Sibawayh.[87] In
later life he met the Qur'an commentator Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati to whom
he expressed that, "Sibawayh was not the Prophet of Syntax nor was
he infallible. He committed eighty mistakes in his book which are not
intelligible to you."[87] Ibn
Taymiyyah is thought to have severely criticized Sibawayh but the actual
substance of those criticisms is not known because the book that Ibn Taymiyyah
wrote, al-Bahr, within
which he wrote the criticisms has been lost.[87] He
stated that when there is an explanation of an Ayah of the
Qur'an or a Hadith, from the Prophet himself, the use of philology or a
grammatical explanation becomes obsolete.[88] He also
said one should refer only to the understanding of the Salaf (first three
generations of Muslims) when interpreting a word within the scriptural sources.[31] However
he did not discount the contributions of the grammarians completely.[89] Ibn
Taymiyyah stated that the Arabic nouns within the scriptural sources have been
divided by the fuqaha (Islamic
jurists) into three categories; those that are defined by the shari'a, those
defined by philology (lugha)
and finally those that are defined by social
custom (`urf).[88] For him
each of these categories of nouns had to be used in their own appropriate
manner.[90]
Madh'hab[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah censured the
scholars for blindly conforming to the precedence of early jurists without any
resort to the Qur'an and Sunnah. He contended that although juridical
precedence has its place, blindly giving it authority without
contextualization, sensitivity to societal changes, and evaluative mindset in
light of the Qur'an and Sunnah can lead to ignorance and stagnancy in Islamic Law.
Ibn Taymiyyah likened the extremism of Taqlid (blind
conformity to juridical precedence or school of thought) to the practice of Jewsand Christians who
took their rabbis and ecclesiastics as gods
besides God. In arguing against taqlid, he said the salaf, who in order to
better understand and live according to the commands of God, had to make
ijtihad using the scriptural sources.[27] The
same approach, in his view, was needed in modern times.[27]
Ibn Taymiyyah believed that the
best role models for Islamic life were the first three generations of Islam (Salaf);
which constitute Muhammad's companions,
referred to in Arabic as Sahaba (first generation), followed by the generation
of Muslims born after the death of Muhammad known as the Tabi'un (second
generation) which is then followed lastly by the next generation after the
Tabi'un known as Tabi' Al-Tabi'in (third
generation). Ibn Taymiyyah gave precedence to the ideas of the Sahaba and early
generations, over the founders of the Islamic schools of jurisprudence.[15] For Ibn
Taymiyyah it was the Qur'an, the sayings and practices of Muhammad and the
ideas of the early generations of Muslims that constituted the best
understanding of Islam. Any deviation from their practice was viewed as bid‘ah,
or innovation, and to be forbidden. He also praised and wrote a commentary on
some speeches of Abdul-Qadir Gilani.[91] He
criticized the views and actions of the Rafaiyah.
Religion and Polity[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah's conception of
religion and the State were that they are inextricably linked.[15] He was
of the view that a State's role was indispensable in providing justice to the
people, enjoining good and forbidding
evil, unifying the people and preparing a society conducive to the worship of God.[15] Henri
Laoust said that Ibn Taymiyyah never propagated the idea of a single caliphate but
believed the Muslim ummah or community would form into a confederation of
states.[15] Laoust
further stated that Ibn Taymiyyah called for obedience only to God, and the
Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and he did not put a limit on the number of leaders a
Muslim community could have.[15] However
Mona Hassan, in her recent study of the political thoughts of Ibn Taymiyyah,
questions this and says laoust has wrongly claimed that Ibn Taymiyyah thought
of the caliphate as a redundant idea.[92] Hassan
has shown that Ibn Taymiyyah considered the Caliphate that was under the Rashidun Caliphs; Abu
Bakr, Umar, Uthman,
and Ali,
as the moral and legal ideal.[92] The
Caliphate in his view could not be ceded "in favour of secular kingship
(mulk).[92]
Jihad[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah was noted for
emphasis he put on the importance of jihad.
He wrote that, "It is in jihad that one can live and die in ultimate
happiness, both in this world and in the Hereafter. Abandoning it means losing
entirely or partially both kinds of happiness."[93]
He gave a broad definition of
what constituted "aggression" against Muslims and what actions by
non-believers made jihad permissible. He declared
"It is allowed to fight
people for (not observing) unambiguous and generally recognized obligations and
prohibitions, until they undertake to perform the explicitly prescribed
prayers, to pay zakat,
to fast during the month of Ramadan,
to make the pilgrimage to Mecca and to avoid what is prohibited, such as
marrying women in spite of legal impediments, eating impure things, acting
unlawfully against the lives and properties of Muslims and the like. It is
obligatory to take the initiative in fighting those people, as soon as the
Prophet's summons with the reasons for which they are fought has reached them.
But if they first attack the Muslims then fighting them is even more urgent, as
we have mentioned when dealing with the fighting against rebellious and
aggressive bandits."[94][95]
In the modern context, his
rulings have been used by some Islamist groups to declare jihad against various
governments.[96]
Innovation (Bid`ah)[edit]
Main
article: Bid‘ah
Even though Ibn Taymiyyah is
considered a theologian, he totally rejected discursive theology (`ilm
al-kalam) as an innovation.[67] He also
labelled in the same way; some aspects of Sufism and Peripatetic
philosophy.[67]
Ibn Taymiyyah opposed giving
any undue religious honors to mosques (even that of Jerusalem,
the Al-Aqsa
Mosque), to approach or rival in any way the Islamic sanctity of the
two most holy mosques within
Islam, Masjid
al-Haram (in Mecca)
and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Madina).[97] As to
the practice of making journey for the sole purpose of visiting a mosque, Ibn
Taymiyyah has said in his books; Majmu'at al-Rasail al-Kubra, Minhaj al-Sunna
and Majmu'at Fatawa, that, "Journey must not be made except to three
mosques; Masjid al-Haram, Masjid al-Nabawi and Masjid Al-Aqsa".[8][98][99][100] Regarding
this Serajul Haque says that, "In the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah only these
three mosques have been accepted by the Prophet as the object of journeys, on
account of their excellence over all other mosques and places of prayer.[101] Ibn
Taymiyyah uses a saying (hadith) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Bukhari and Muslim to
justify his view that it is not permitted to journey exclusively to any mosque
than Mecca, Medina, or Jerusalem.[101]
The ruler Sabuktegin was
praised by Ibn Taymiyyah for censuring groups that he considered heretical. Ibn
Taymiyyah stated that Sabuktegin, "commanded that Ahlul Bidah be
publicly cursed on the minbars,
and as a result the Jahmiyyah, Rafida,
Hululiyah, Mu'tazilah,
and Qadariyah were
all publicly cursed, along with the Asharites."
Pilgrimage to tombs and intercession[edit]
Ibn Taymiyyah considered the
veneration and making pilgrimage to the tomb of saints (ziyārat al-qubūr) as an innovation.[67][102] Ibn
Taymiyyah said that to make a pilgrimage or journey to the tomb of a Sufi, Wali
or the Prophets, is comparable to worshipping something besides God (Shirk).[67][102] To make
a pilgrimage to Muhammad's grave for the sole purpose of seeking intercession
or aassistance was deemed by Ibn Taymiyyah as impermissable.[103] He said
that only God should be asked for help and that it is only God that can give
assistance.[102] He uses
passages from the Qur'an to support his view and uses a hadith of the Prophet
where he advised his companion Ibn Abbas that
when a person requires anything, he should ask God.[102] Ibn Taymiyyah
said that seeking the assistance of God through intercession is allowed, as
long as the other person is still alive.[102] The
evidence he uses for this is another hadith, where the people due to the lack
of rain, asked Muhammad to pray to God to provide rain, to which he agreed and
rain did fall but after the Prophet had died and a similar circumstance arose,
the people did not go to his grave.[102] Ibn
Taymiyyah, regarding those who ask assistance from a Sufi or a wali, says that,
"those who do so are kuffar, infidels."[102] As for
those who ask assistance from the grave of the Prophet or a Sheikh, he called
them mushrik, someone who is engaged in shirk.[102] Howerver,
Ibn Taymiyyah was not completely against the visitation of tombs, provided that
they only go to pray for the dead person and that they seek benefit from God
alone.[102]
Mutakallimun
The mutakallimun are scholars
who engage in ilm
al-Kalam (rationalst
theology) and they were criticised by Ibn Taymiyyah for their use of
rationalist theology and philosophy.[66]He
said that the method of kalam was used by the Mu`tazilites, Jahmites and Ash`ari's.[66] Ibn
Taymiyyah considered the use of philosophical proofs and kalam to be redundant
because he saw the Qur'an and the Sunna as superior rational proofs.[66] Ibn
Taymiyyah said that these explanations were not grounded in scriptural evidence
such as the philosophical explanation of the divine attributes of God or the
proof of God using the cosmological argument.[66] He said
that the call to Islam was not made using such methods by the Qur'an or the
Prophet and that these theories have only caused errors and corruption.[66] The mutakallimun
called their use of rationalst theology usul al-din (principles of religion)
but Ibn Taymiyyah said that the use of rationalist theology has nothing to do
with the true usul al-din which comes from God and to state otherwise is to say
that the Prophet neglected an important aspect of Islam.[66] Ibn
Taymiyyah says that the usul al-din of the mutakallimun, deserve to be named
usul din al-shaytan (principles of Satanic religion).[66]
Ibn Taymiyyah's attempts to
focus attention onto Qur''anic rationality was taken up by his student Ibn
Qayyim, to the exception of his other followers.[66] This
focus on traditionlist rationlism was also taken up by Musa
Bigiev.[66]
Sufism[edit]
He engaged in intensive polemic
activity against the Rifa'i Sufi order,
and the ittihadiyah school[24] which
grew out of the teaching of Ibn
Arabi, whose work, the Futūḥāt, was called "subtly
heretical" by Ibn Taymiyyah.[15] Furthermore,
Ibn Taymiyyah considered Ibn Arabi a kāfir (unbeliever) because he viewed his
claim that God was everywhere and that God was identical to his creation to be
in contradiction to the scriptural evidence, the sunnah and the understanding
of the companions.[24]
Ibn Taymiyyah rejected two
views associated with Sufism. For one he said that some Sufis insulted God with
their monism,
a doctrine (seemingly similar to pantheism)
that God "encompasses all things".[104] This
rejection included denouncing the views of the monist Ibn
Arabi.[15] For the
second he said that the view that spiritual enlightenment is of a
greater importance than obeying the sharia was a
failure to properly follow the example of Muhammad.[104] On Ibn
Arabi, and Sufism in general, Henri Laoust says that Ibn Taymiyyah mentions
that, "he allowed himself to be deluded, in his youth, by the Futuhat of
Ibn al-Arabi, before discovering how subtly heretical they were. He never
condemned Ṣūfism in itself, but only that which he considered to be, in the
case of too many Ṣūfis, inadmissible deviations in doctrine, ritual or morals,
such as monism, antinomianism oresotericism."[15]
Ibn Taymiyyah's own writing in
his book Majmu Fatawa shows that he did not completely
discount Sufism when he said, "the right attitude towards Sufism, or any
other thing, is to accept what is in agreement with the Qur'an and the Sunna,
and reject what does not agree".[105] He did
write positively about some Sufis such as Abdul-Qadir Gilani.[24]
Shi'a Islam[edit]
Main
article: Minhaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah
n set by ‘Arif Tamir in Beirut
in 1995. All these editions are not critical and we do not yet have a complete
English translation of the whole Rasa’il encyclopedia.
The first complete Arabic
critical edition and fully annotated English translation of the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ is being prepared for publication by a
team of editors, translators and scholars as part of a book series that is
published by Oxford University Press in
association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies in
London; a project currently coordinated by the series General Editor Nader
El-Bizri.[27] This
series is initiated by an introductory volume of studies edited by Nader
El-Bizri, which was published by Oxford University Pressin
2008, and followed in 2009 by the voluminous Arabic critical edition and
annotated English translation with commentaries of The Case of the Animals Versus Man
Before the King of the Jinn (Epistle
22; eds. trans. L. Goodman & R. McGregor), then Epistle 5: On Music (ed. trans. O. Wright, 2010), Epistles
10-15: On Logic (ed. trans. C. Baffioni, 2010),
Epistle 52a: On Magic (eds. trans. G. de Callatay & B.
Halflants, 2011), Epistles 1-2: Arithmetic
and Geometry (ed. trans. N.
El-Bizri, 2012), the voluminous Epistles 15-21:Natural Sciences (ed. trans. C. Baffioni, 2013), and
Epistle 4: Geography (ed. trans. I Sanchez and J.
Montogomery, 2014).[28] This
OUP series received a large number of academic reviews in journals, including
three review-essays that were published in the Times Literary Supplement.
Abul Abbas Taqiyuddin Ahmad bin Abdus Salam bin Abdullah bin Taimiyah al Harrani (Bahasa Arab: أبو عباس تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد السلام بن عبد الله ابن تيمية الحراني), atau yang biasa disebut dengan nama Ibnu Taimiyah saja (lahir: 22 Januari 1263/10 Rabiul Awwal 661H – wafat: 1328/20 Dzulhijjah 728 H), adalah seorang pemikir dan ulama Islam dari Harran, Turki.
Ibnu Taymiyyah berpendapat bahwa tiga generasi awal Islam,
yaitu Rasulullah Muhammad SAW dan Sahabat Nabi,
kemudianTabi'in yaitu generasi yang mengenal langsung para Sahabat Nabi, dan Tabi'ut tabi'in yaitu generasi yang mengenal langsung para Tabi'in, adalah
contoh yang terbaik untuk kehidupan Islam.
Biografi
Ia berasal dari keluarga religius. Ayahnya Syihabuddin bin
Taimiyah adalah seorang syaikh, hakim, dan khatib. Kakeknya Majduddin Abul
Birkan Abdussalam bin Abdullah bin Taimiyah al Harrani adalah seorang ulama
yang menguasai fiqih, hadits, tafsir, ilmu ushul dan penghafal Al Qur'an (hafidz).
Ibnu Taimiyah lahir di zaman ketika Baghdad merupakan pusat kekuasaan
dan budaya Islam pada masa Dinasti Abbasiyah. Ketika berusia enam tahun (tahun 1268), Ibnu Taimiyah dibawa
ayahnya ke Damaskus disebabkan serbuan
tentara Mongol atas Irak.
Perkembangan dan hasrat keilmuan
Semenjak kecil sudah terlihat tanda-tanda kecerdasannya.
Begitu tiba di Damaskus, ia segera menghafalkan
Al-Qur’an dan mencari berbagai cabang ilmu pada para ulama, hafizh dan ahli
hadits negeri itu. Kecerdasan serta kekuatan otaknya membuat para tokoh ulama
tersebut tercengang. Ketika umurnya belum mencapai belasan tahun, ia sudah
menguasai ilmu ushuluddin dan mendalami bidang-bidang tafsir, hadits, dan
bahasa Arab. Ia telah mengkaji Musnad Imam Ahmad sampai beberapa kali, kemudian
Kutubu Sittah dan Mu’jam At-Thabarani Al-Kabir.
Suatu kali ketika ia masih kanak-kanak, pernah ada seorang
ulama besar dari Aleppo, Suriah yang sengaja datang ke Damaskus khusus untuk melihat Ibnu
Taimiyah yang kecerdasannya menjadi buah bibir. Setelah bertemu, ia memberikan
tes dengan cara menyampaikan belasan matan hadits sekaligus. Ternyata Ibnu
Taimiyah mampu menghafalkannya secara cepat dan tepat. Begitu pula ketika
disampaikan kepadanya beberapa sanad, iapun dengan tepat pula mampu mengucapkan
ulang dan menghafalnya, sehingga ulama tersebut berkata: "Jika anak ini
hidup, niscaya ia kelak mempunyai kedudukan besar, sebab belum pernah ada
seorang bocah sepertinya".
Sejak kecil ia hidup dan dibesarkan di tengah-tengah para
ulama sehingga mempunyai kesempatan untuk membaca sepuas-puasnya kitab-kitab
yang bermanfaat. Ia menggunakan seluruh waktunya untuk belajar dan belajar dan
menggali ilmu, terutama tentang Al-Qur'an dan Sunnah Nabi.
Kepribadiannya
Dia adalah orang yang keras pendiriannya dan teguh
berpijak pada garis-garis yang telah ditentukan Allah, mengikuti segala
perintah-Nya dan menjauhi segala larangan-Nya. Ia pernah berkata: ”Jika
dibenakku sedang berfikir suatu masalah, sedangkan hal itu merupakan masalah
yang muskil bagiku, maka aku akan beristighfar seribu kali atau lebih atau kurang.
Sampai dadaku menjadi lapang dan masalah itu terpecahkan. Hal itu aku lakukan
baik di pasar, di masjid atau di madrasah. Semuanya tidak menghalangiku untuk
berdzikir dan beristighfar hingga terpenuhi cita-citaku.”
Menjadi jenderal
Dia pernah memimpin sebuah pasukan untuk melawan pasukan Mongol di Syakhab, dekat kota
Damaskus, pada tahun 1299 Masehi dan dia mendapat kemenangan yang gemilang.
Pada Februari 1313, dia juga bertempur di kota Jerussalem dan mendapat
kemenangan. Dan sesudah karirnya itu, dia tetap mengajar sebagai profesor yang
ulung[3]
Pendidikan dan karyanya
Di Damaskus ia belajar pada banyak guru, dan memperoleh
berbagai macam ilmu diantaranya ilmu hitung (matematika), khat (ilmu tulis
menulis Arab), nahwu, ushul fiqih. Ia
dikaruniai kemampuan mudah hafal dan sukar lupa. Hingga dalam usia muda, ia
telah hafal Al-Qur'an. Kemampuannya dalam
menuntut ilmu mulai terlihat pada usia 17 tahun. Dan usia 19, ia telah memberi
fatwa dalam masalah masalah keagamaan.
Ibnu Taymiyyah amat menguasai ilmu
rijalul hadits (perawi hadits) yang
berguna dalam menelusuri Hadits dari periwayat atau pembawanya dan Fununul hadits (macam-macam
hadits) baik yang lemah, cacat atau shahih. Ia memahami semua hadits yang
termuat dalam Kutubus Sittah dan Al-Musnad. Dalam mengemukakan
ayat-ayat sebagaihujjah (dalil), ia memiliki kehebatan yang luar biasa, sehingga mampu
mengemukakan kesalahan dan kelemahan para mufassir atau ahli tafsir. Tiap malam
ia menulis tafsir, fiqh, ilmu 'ushul sambil mengomentari para filusuf . Sehari
semalam ia mampu menulis empat buah kurrosah (buku kecil) yang memuat berbagai
pendapatnya dalam bidang syari'ah. Ibnul Wardi menuturkan dalam Tarikh
Ibnul Wardi bahwa karangannya
mencapai lima ratus judul. Karya-karyanya yang terkenal adalah Majmu' Fatawa
yang berisi masalah fatwa fatwa dalam agama Islam
Wafatnya
Ibnu Taimiyah meninggal penjara Qal`ah Dimasyq disaksikan
oleh salah seorang muridnya Ibnul Qayyim,
ketika dia sedang membaca Al-Qur'an surah Al-Qamar yang berbunyi"Innal
Muttaqina fi jannatin wanaharin"[3] . Ia berada di penjara
ini selama dua tahun tiga bulan dan beberapa hari, mengalami sakit dua puluh
hari lebih. Di masa tuanya, dia menulis banyak kitab sekaligus mengisi
waktunya. Dia dipenjara karena berseberangan dengan pemerintah di zamannya.[4] Sewaktu menulis, dia
sering juga saling bersurat-suratan kepada kawan-kawannya. Akhirnya, pihak
pemerintah merampas semua peralatan tulisnya, tinta, dan kertas-kertas dari
tangan dia. Namun, dia tidak pernah patah arang. Dia banyak berdakwah dengan
menulis surat kepada kawan-kawannya, dan teman-temannya memakai arang.
Sehingga, dengan terang, dia berkata, "Orang yang diopenjara adalah orang
yang dipenjara harinya dari Rabbnya; sedang, orang yang tertawan adalah orang
yang ditawan oleh hawa nafsunya."[4] Ia wafat pada tanggal 20
Dzulhijjah 728 H, dan dikuburkan pada waktu Ashar di samping kuburan
saudaranya, Syaikh Jamal Al-Islam Syarafuddin.
Jenazahnya disalatkan di masjid Jami` Bani Umayah sesudah
salat Zhuhur dihadiri para pejabat pemerintah, ulama, tentara serta para
penduduk.
Pada saat itu, tidak ada seorangpun yang tak hadir melayat
kecuali ada yang berhalangan, para wanita yang berjumlah kira-kira 15.000 orang
juga datang melayat, ini belum termasuk suara isakan tangis dan doa yang
terdengar di atas rumah-rumah sepanjang jalan menuju makam, sementara lelaki
yang hadir diperkirakan 60.000 bahkan sampai 100.000 pelayat menurut kesaksian
Ibnu Katsir.pat puj
Peninggalan
Sepanjang hidupnya, dia dikenal banyak sekali mendapat
pujian dan celaan. Banyak kalangan ulama yang memujinya, dan sebagian ahli
fiqih mencela dia karena ketidaktahuan mereka. Adapun ajarannya yang
benar-benar memurnikan tauhid dari kesyirikan, khurafat, dan bid'ah, telah mengena dan diikuti
oleh pengikut Salafi yang anti-kesyirikan.
Adapun, pada diri-pribadi Syaikh Ibnu Taimiyyah rahimahullahu 'alaih (رَحِمَهُ الله عَلَيْهِ), telah banyak kitab
tentang studi pada biografi hidup dia; seperti kitab, risalah ilmiah, maupun
yang bukan ilmiah, itu baik dari bahasa Arab, ataupun yang bukan bahasa Arab.
Studi tentang kehidupan dia bukan hanya tentang kehidupan dia saja, berikut
tentang kepribadian, dan keilmuannya, dan karya-karyanya begitu banyak.[5]
“ Barang siapa yang ingin untuk mengambil
contoh maka ambilah dari orang yang telah meninggal “
Karena boleh jadi orang yang pertengahan
hidupnya baik dan ternyata pada akhirnya berada dalam kesesatan.
Maka tokoh yang satu ini adalah salah satu
contoh figur yang pantas untuk kita jadikan panutan karena keistiqomahan beliau
dalam dien ini hingga ajal menjemput. Dan hampir pada setiap karya – karya
tulis ilmiyah diniyah pasti mencantukan aqwal beliau. Beliau adalah syeikhul
islam ibnu Taimiyah. Sedikit kami ketengahkan kehadapan para pembaca sekalian
biografi singkat beliau.
Diterjemahkan dari Iqtidho’
Shirothil Mustaqim Li Mukholafatil Ashabil Jahim yang ditahqiq dan dita’liq
oleh Dr. Nashir bin Abdul Karim Al ‘Aql hafizhahullahPenerjemah: Abu Ismail
Muhammad Abduh Tuasikal
Nasab Beliau
Beliau adalah Syaikhul Islam Al Imam Ahmad bin
Abdul Halim bin Abdus Salam bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Al Khadr bin Muhammad
bin Al Khadr bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Taimiyyah Al Harani Ad Dimasyqi. Nama
Kunyah beliau adalah Abul ‘Abbas.
Kelahiran dan Pertumbuhan
Beliau
Beliau lahir pada tanggal 12 Rabi’ul Awwal 661
Hijriah di Haran. Ketika berumur 7 tahun, beliau berpindah ke Damaskus bersama
ayahnya dalam rangka melarikan diri dari pasukan Tartar yang memerangi kaum
muslimin. Beliau tumbuh di keluarga yang penuh ilmu, fikih, dan agama. Buktinya
adalah banyak dari ayah, kakek, saudara, dan banyak dari paman beliau adalah ulama
yang terkenal. Di antaranya adalah kakek beliau yang jauh (kakek nomor 4),
yaitu Muhammad bin Al Khadr, juga Abdul Halim bin Muhammad bin Taimiyyah dan
Abdul Ghani bin Muhammad bin Taimiyyah. Juga kakek beliau yang pertama, yaitu
Abdus Salam bin Abdullah bin Taimiyyah Majdud Diin nama kunyahnya adalah Abul
Barakaat, memiliki beberapa tulisan di antaranya: Al Muntaqa min Al Ahadits Al
Ahkam (kitab ini disyarah oleh Imam Syaukani dengan judul Nailul Author, pent),
Al Muharrar dalam bidang fiqih, Al Muswaddah dalam bidang Ushul Fiqh, dan
lainnya. Begitu juga dengan ayah beliau, Abdul Halim bin Abdus Salam Al Harani
dan saudaranya, Abdurrahman dan lainlain. Di lingkungan ilmiah dan shalihah
ini, beliau tumbuh. Beliau memulai menuntut ilmu pertama kali pada ayahnya dan
juga pada ulama-ulama Damaskus. Beliau telah menghafalkan Al Quran sejak kecil.
Beliau juga telah mempelajari hadits, fikih, ilmu ushul, dan tafsir. Beliau
dikenal sebagai orang yang cerdas, memiliki hafalan yang kuat dan memiliki
kecerdasan sejak kecil. Kemudian beliau intensif mempelajari ilmu dan
mendalaminya. Sehingga terkumpul dalam diri beliau syarat-syarat mujtahid
ketika masa mudanya. Maka tidak lama kemudian beliau menjadi seorang imam yang
diakui oleh
Ulamaulama besar dengan ilmu, kelebihan, dan
keimamannya dalam agama, sebelum beliau berusia 30 tahun.
Karya Ilmiah Beliau
Dalam bidang penulisan buku dan karya ilmiah,
beliau telah meninggalkan bagi umat Islam warisan yang besar dan bernilai.
Tidak henti-hentinya para ulama dan para peneliti mengambil manfaat dari
tulisan beliau. Sampai sekarang ini telah terkumpul berjilid-jilid buku,
risalah (buku kecil), Fatawa dan berbagai masa’il (pembahasan suatu masalah)
dari beliau dan ini yang sudah dicetak. Sedangkan yang tersisa dari karya beliau
yang masih belum diketahui atau tersimpan dalam bentuk manuskrip masih banyak
sekali.
Beliau tidaklah membiarkan satu bidang ilmu
dan pengetahuan yang bermanfaat bagi umat dan mengabdi pada umat, kecuali
beliau menulisnya dan berperan serta di dalamnya dengan penuh kesungguhan dan
ketelitian. Hal seperti ini jarang sekali ditemui kecuali pada orang-orang yang
jenius dan orang yang jenius adalah orang yang sangat langka dalam sejarah.
Teman dekat, guru, murid beliau bahkan musuh beliau, telah mengakui keluasan
penelaahan dan ilmu beliau. Buktinya jika beliau berbicara tentang suatu ilmu
atau cabang ilmu, maka orang yang mendengar menyangka bahwa beliau tidak
mumpuni pada ilmu lain. Hal ini dikarenakan ketelitian dan pendalaman beliau
terhadap ilmu tersebut. Jika seseorang meneliti tulisan dan karya beliau dan
mengetahui amal beliau
berupa jihad dengan menggunakan tangan dan
lisan, dan pembelaan terhadap Islam serta mengetahui tentang ibadah dan zikir
beliau, maka sungguh dia akan sangat terkagum-kagum dengan keberkahan waktu dan
kuatnya kesabaran beliau. Maha Suci Allah yang telah mengaruniakan pada beliau
berbagai karunia tersebut.
Jihad dan Pembelaan Beliau
untuk Islam
Banyak orang tidak mengetahui sisi amaliah
dari kehidupan beliau. Banyak orang hanya mengenal beliau sebagai ulama,
penulis, dan ahli fatwa melalui karya beliau yang tersebar. Padahal beliau
memiliki sikap-sikap yang diakui dalam berbagai bidang yang lain, yang beliau
ikut berperan serta dalam menolong dan memuliakan kaum muslimin. Di antaranya:
beliau berjihad dengan pedang dan menyemangati kaum muslimin untuk berperang,
baik dengan perkataan dan perbuatan beliau. Beliau berputar-putar dengan
pedangnya di medan pertempuran dengan menunggang kuda dengan sangat lihai dan
berani. Orang-orang yang menyaksikan beliau dalam peperangan penaklukan kota
‘Ukaa, terkagum-kagum dengan keberaniannya dan serangannya terhadap musuh.
Adapun jihad beliau dengan pena dan lisan. Maka beliau rahimahullah telah
berdiri di depan musuh-musuh Islam dari penganut berbagai agama, aliran, isme
yang batil, dan ahlul bid’ah bagaikan gunung yang kokoh. Kadang dengan
perdebatan langsung, terkadang pula melalui tulisan. Beliau menghancurkan
syubhat-syubhat (racun pemikiran) mereka dan mengembalikan tipu daya mereka
bihamdillah.
Beliau menghadapi ahli filsafat, bathiniyyah
baik dari golongan sufiyyah, isma’iliyyah, , nashiriyyah, dan selain mereka.
Sebagaimana beliau juga menghadapi rafidhah dan golongan yang sesat (atheis).
Beliau hancurkan syubhat-syubhat ahlul bid’ah yang diadakan di sekeliling
masyahid (kuburan yang ramai untuk diziarahi), kuburan secara umum, dan
semacamnya.
Sebagaimana beliau menghadapi jahmiyyah,
mu’tazilah, dan beliau membantah ahlul kalam dan asya’iroh. Orang yang melihat
sisi ini dari kehidupan beliau hampir-hampir menegaskan tidak ada lagi waktu
yang sia-sia yang tersisa dalam kehidupan beliau. Beliau diperangi, diusir,
disakiti, dan dipenjara berkalikali di jalan Allah. Bahkan tatkala menghadapi
ajal, beliau berada di penjara Al Qol’ah, di Damaskus. Tak ada henti-hentinya
bihamdillah bantahan beliau selalu menjadi senjata yang ampuh untuk menghadapi
musuh kebenaran dan orang yang menyimpang. Karena bantahan beliau ini selalu
disandarkan pada Kitabullah dan Sunnah Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam
serta petunjuk salafush shalih, dengan kuatnya istinbath (penyimpulan hukum),
pendalilan yang sangat bagus, alasan (argumen) secara syar’i dan akal, dan
luasnya ilmu beliau yang telah Allah karuniai.
Banyak dari paham yang merusak yang laris
manis pada hari ini di tengah-tengah kaum muslimin merupakan perpanjangan
tangan dari firqah-firqah dan isme-isme (pemahaman-pemahaman) yang beliau
hadapi dan semisalnya pula dihadapi oleh pendahulu kita yang shalih. Oleh
karena itu, semestinya para da’i yang ingin memperbaiki umat jangan sampai
lalai dari sisi ini. Seharusnya mereka mengambil faedah dari bantahan-bantahan
yang terlebih dahulu dibuat oleh para pendahulu mereka yang shalih.
Tidaklah aku (Syaikh Nashir Al Aql, pent)
berlebih-lebihan dengan yang akan aku katakan. Bahwasanya tak henti-hentinya
kitab-kitab dan bantahan-bantahan beliau adalah senjata yang paling kuat untuk
menghadapi firqah-firqah sesat dan isme-isme yang merusak ini, yang laris manis
yang mulai muncul lagi pada hari ini. Firqah dan isme ini merupakan
perpanjangan dari masa lalu. Akan tetapi di antara firqah-firqah itu ada yang
berbaju dengan baju modern dan hanya merubah nama mereka saja. Misalnya
Ba’tsiyyah (sebuah aliran sosialis/sekuler, pent), Isytiraqiyyah (sosialisme),
nasionalisme, Qadianiah (Ahmadiah), Baha’iyyah (aliran sesat di India) dan
firqah-firqah yang lain. Ada pula yang masih tetap dengan slogannya yang dulu
seperti Syi’ah, Rafidhah, Nashiriyyah, Isma’iliyyah, Khowarij dan lainlain.
Sifat-Sifat Beliau
Di samping aspek ilmu, pemahaman agama, dan
amar ma’ruf nahi mungkar (memerintahkan yang baik dan melarang dari
kemungkaran) yang terkenal dari beliau, sungguh Allah telah mengaruniai beliau
sifat yang terpuji yang sudah dikenali dan diakui oleh banyak orang. Beliau
adalah orang yang dermawan dan mulia, selalu mengutamakan orang-orang yang
membutuhkan melebihi dari diri beliau sendiri, baik dalam hal makanan, pakaian,
dan selainnya. Beliau adalah orang yang sering beribadah dan membaca Al Quran.
Beliau adalah orang yang wara’ dan zuhud, hampir-hampir beliau tidak memiliki
sesuatu pun dari kesenangan dunia, kecuali yang merupakan kebutuhan pokok
(primer) dan sifat seperti ini sudah diketahui oleh orang-orang pada zamannya,
sampai-sampai orang awam pun mengetahuinya. Beliau juga orang yang tawadhu’
dalam penampilan, pakaian, dan interaksi beliau dengan orang lain. Beliau tidak
pernah memakai pakaian yang mewah atau pun jelek (beliau selalu berpakaian yang
tengah-tengah, tidak mewah dan tidak jelek pent). Beliau tidaklah
memaksamaksakan diri (berbasa-basi) terhadap orang yang beliau temui. Beliau
terkenal sebagai orang yang karismatik dan keras dalam membela kebenaran.
Beliau memiliki karisma yang luar biasa di depan penguasa, ulama, dan orang
awam. Setiap orang yang melihat beliau, akan langsung mencintai, segan, dan
menghormati beliau, kecuali ahlul bid’ah yang diliputi rasa dengki. Sebagaimana
beliau terkenal sebagai orang yang sangat sabar di jalan Allah, beliau juga
memiliki firasat yang kuat dan memiliki doa yang mustajab. Beliau juga memiliki
karamah lain yang diakui. Semoga Allah merahmati beliau dengan rahmat yang luas
dan menempatkannya di surgaNya.
Masa Beliau
Sungguh beliau rahimahullah telah hidup di
suatu masa yang terdapat banyak bid’ah dan kesesatan. Banyak isme-isme yang batil
berkuasa. Semakin bertambah pula syubhat (racun pemikiran). Kebodohan, ta’ashub
(fanatik) dan taqlid buta (mengikuti seseorang tanpa dalil) semakin tersebar.
Pada saat itu pula, kaum muslimin diperangi oleh pasukan Tartar dan pasukan
Salib (dari orangorang
Eropa). Kita akan mendapati potret masa beliau
dengan jelas dan gamblang melalui buku-buku beliau yang ada di hadapan kita.
Karena beliau sangat perhatian dengan urusan kaum muslimin. Beliau juga
berperan serta menyelesaikan masalah-masalah tersebut dengan pena, lisan dan
tangannya. Barang siapa yang memperhatikan tulisan-tulisan beliau, maka akan
mendapati gambaran bentuk ini pada masa beliau:
1. Semakin banyaknya bid’ah dan syirik,
lebih-lebih kesyirikan yang terdapat di sekitar masyahid dan kuburan yang
diziarahi dan palsu. Juga i’tiqod (keyakinan) yang batil terhadap orang yang
hidup dan yang mati. Mereka diyakini dapat memberi manfaat dan dapat memberi
kesusahan. Maka mereka diseru/didoai sebagai sesembahan selain Allah.
2. Tersebarnya filsafat, penyimpangan, dan
perdebatan.
3. Tasawuf dan tarekat-tarekat sufi yang sesat
menguasai orang-orang awam. Tersebar pula di sana isme-isme dan pemikiran
bathiniyyah.
4. Rafidhah semakin berperan dalam urusan kaum
muslimin. Mereka menyebarkan bid’ah dan kesyirikan di tengah-tengah kaum
muslimin. Mereka mengendurkan semangat umat untuk berjihad. Bahkan mereka
membantu pasukan Tartar yang merupakan musuh kaum muslimin.
5. Pada akhirnya, kita lihat semakin kuatnya
Ahlusunnah wal Jamaah dengan sebab beliau. Beliau memotivasi dan memberikan
semangat kepada Ahlusunnah. Hal ini memiliki pengaruh yang bagus bagi kaum
muslimin hingga saat ini dalam menghadapi bid’ah dan kemungkaran, amar ma’ruf
nahi munkar, menasihati pemimpin kaum muslimin, dan kaum muslimin secara umum. Syaikhul
Islam di zamannya tegar dalam menghadapi penyimpangan-penyimpangan ini dengan
sikap yang telah diakui. Beliau memerintahkan, melarang, menasihati,
menjelaskan sehingga Allah memperbaiki banyak keadaan kaum muslimin dengan
tangan beliau. Allah telah menolong Sunnah dan Ahlusunnah melalui beliau,
walhamdulillah.
Wafat Beliau
Sesungguhnya di antara tanda kebaikan orang
shalih dan diterimanya dia di tengah-tengah kaum muslimin adalah: orang-orang
merasa kehilangannya tatkala dia meninggal dunia. Oleh karena itu, para salaf
menilai banyaknya orang yang menyalati merupakan tanda kebaikan dan diterimanya
orang tersebut. Oleh karena itu, Imam Ahmad – rahimahullah mengatakan, “Katakan
pada Ahlul Bid’ah, perbedaan antara kami dan kalian adalah pada hari kematian”,
yaitu orang-orang akan merasakan kehilangan Imam Ahlusunnah, apabila imam itu
meninggal akan terlihat banyaknya orang yang mengiringi jenazahnya ke
pemakaman. Sungguh realita telah menunjukkan hal itu. Belum ada yang pernah
terdengar seperti kematian dua imam (yang samasama bernama Ahmad, pent) yaitu
Imam Ahmad bin Hambal dan Ahmad bin Taimiyyah ketika keduanya meninggal. Begitu
banyak orang yang mengiringi ke pemakaman dan keluar bersama jenazah keduanya
serta menyalati keduanya. Ini bukanlah suatu yang aneh karena kaum muslimin
adalah saksi Allah di bumi ini. Demikianlah Syaikhul Islam rahimahullah wafat,
dalam keadaan beliau terpenjara di penjara Al Qol’ah, Damaskus, pada malam
Senin, 20 Dzulqo’dah 728 Hijriyah. Seluruh penduduk Damaskus dan sekitarnya
merayap untuk menyalati dan mengiringi jenazah beliau ke pemakaman. Berbagai
referensi yang menyebutkan kematian beliau sepakat bahwa yang menghadiri
pemakaman beliau adalah jumlah yang sangat besar sekali yang tidak bisa
dibayangkan jumlahnya. Semoga Allah merahmati dan memberi balasan dengan
kebaikan yang banyak atas jasa beliau terhadap Islam dan kaum muslimin. (iroel)
Sumber penulisan biografi ini :
1. Al I’lam, Khoiruddin Az
Zarkali. (1/144)
2. Al A’laam Al ‘Aliyyah fii
Manaqib Ibnu Taimiyyah, Al Hafidz Umar Al Bazzar, ditahqiq
oleh Asy Syawisy.
3. Al Bidayatu wan Nihayah,
Ibnu Katsir. (135139/14)
4. Syadzarotudz Dzahab, Ibnul
‘Ammaad. (8086/6)
5. Fawatul Wifayaat, Muhammad
Ibnu Syakir Al Kutubi. (7480/1)
6. Kitabudz Dzail ‘ala
Thobaqotil Hanabilah, Abul Faroj Abdurrahman bin Ahmad Al
Baghdadi. (387 – 408)
7. Manaqib Al Imam Ahmad bin
Hambal. Ibnul Jauzi, ditahqiq oleh Dr. Abdullah bin
Abdul Muhsin At Turki.
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