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Ibn Taymiyya

Controversial Hanbali scholar whose works shaped modern Salafism.

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Ibn Taymiyya

Moataz1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Ibn Taymiyya was a Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian born in Harran in 1263 CE.[1][2] He is best known today as a major inspiration to the global Salafism movement.[2] Adherents of the contemporary Salafi movement widely regard Ibn Taymiyya's creedal treatises as important classical scholarly references.[3]

Life and work

Ibn Taymiyya's family fled a Mongol incursion and settled in Damascus in 1269.[2][4] He excelled at the religious sciences and took over as head of the Sukkariyya madrasa when his father died in 1284.[2][5] He studied under more than two hundred hadith scholars, including four women.[6] Ibn Taymiyya found himself in theological difficulty in 1298 for writing against Ashʿarī theology of God's attributes.[2][7]

Ibn Taymiyyah mosque
Ibn Taymiyyah mosque. Image: Moataz1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

He argued that the Mamluks must defend Islam against the Mongols because the latter did not adhere to all the laws of Islam.[2] Ibn Taymiyya agitated against Sufi theology and popular religious practices that he believed deviated from Islam.[2] By 1282, when he was 20 years old, Ibn Taymiyya had finished his formal education.[8] Throughout his entire life, Ibn Taymiyya never married and had no female companion.[9]

Because his views clashed with the dominant opinions held by jurists and theologians of his era, Ibn Taymiyya experienced multiple imprisonments.[10] At age 65, on September 26, 1328, Ibn Taymiyya died while incarcerated in the Citadel of Damascus.[11]

Shaykh ul-islam ibn taymiyyah's name
Shaykh ul-islam ibn taymiyyah's name. Image: Ashiqilahi123 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What the cited sources add

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that Ibn Taymiyya's ontology is physicalist or materialist.[2] According to the same source, the unseen world is not an intellectual world or a world of immaterial images.[2] The Stanford Encyclopedia notes that Ibn Taymiyya deployed extensive hermeneutical reflection and rational argumentation to defend his interpretation of Islamic revelation as fully congruent with reason.[2] Ibn Taymiyya's approach has been called philosophical theology and Qurʾānic rational theology.[2]

Ibn Taymiyya contended that what is thought to be empty space is actually occupied by God, and he also denied the existence of time as an independent entity.[12] According to Ibn Taymiyya, time arises from God's perpetual motion.[13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Esposito, "The Oxford Dictionary of Islam", Oxford Reference, 2003; Yahya An Najmi, "Explanation Of Al-Qasidah Al-Lamiyah", Hikmah Publications, p. 5; Woodward, "The Garebeg Malud: Veneration of the Prophet as Imperial Ritual", p. 170; Ghobadzdeh, "Sectarianism and the prevalence of 'othering' in Islamic thought", Third World Quarterly, May 18, 2015, p. 691–704; Nadvi, "Muslims and Greek Schools of Philosophy", Islamic Studies, 2012, p. 218; Kokoschka, "Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya" en.wikipedia.org
  2. Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), Section 4.4.. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
  3. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust 2012; Haynes, "The Routledge handbook of Religion, Politics and Ideology", Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2022, p. 180; El-Tobgui, "Ibn Taymiyya on reason and revelation : a study of Darʾ ta'āruḍ al-ʻaql wa-l-naql", Brill, 2022; "Atheism and Radical Skepticism: Ibn Taymiyya's Epistemic Critique", Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research; Haynes, "The Routledge handbook of Religion, Politics and Ideology", Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2022, p. 180; Sinani, "Post-Salafism: Religious Revisionism in Contemporary Saudi Arabia", Re en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haque 1982, p. 6; Laoust 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Michot, "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought", Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 238–241; Laoust 2012; Nettler, ""Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Michot, "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought", Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 238–241; Leaman, "The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia", Taylor & Francis, 2006, p. 280–282; Bori, "Ibn Taymiyya and His Times", Oxford University Press, 2010; Laoust 2012; Michel, en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Haque 1982, p. 6; Al-Dimashqi al-Hanbali, "Al-'Uqud ad-Dariat", p. 3; Al-Hanbali, "Shadharat al-Dhahab", 1932, p. 385, 383, 404; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6; Laoust 2012; Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Michot, "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought", Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 238–241; Ibn Taimiya, "Sharh Al-Aqeedat-il-Wasitiyah", Dar-us-Salam, 1996, p. 9 en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haque 1982, p. 6; Watt, "Islamic Philosophy and Theology", Transaction Publishers, 2008, p. 160; Haque 1982, p. 6; Watt, "Islamic Philosophy and Theology", Transaction Publishers, 2008, p. 160; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haque 1982, p. 6; Leaman, "The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia", Taylor & Francis, 2006, p. 280–282; Haque 1982, p. 6; Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Michot, "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought", Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 238–241; Laoust 2012; see aqidatul-waasitiyyah daarussalaam publications; Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Laoust 2012; Haque 1982, p. 6 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn", Oxford Islamic Studies Online, February 14, 2015; Esposito, "Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam", Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 45; Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad", Oxford University Press, February 14, 2015; Al-Matroudi, "Ibn Taymīyah, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad", Oxford University Press, February 14, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: G. Rabil, "Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism", Georgetown University Press, 2014, p. 26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust 2012; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6; Haque 1982, p. 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), Section 4.4. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Ibn Taymiyya" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), Section 4.4.; Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), Section 4.4.; Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), Section 4.4.; Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ibn Taymiyya (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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