On the Direction of Ibn Taymiyya

A few days ago I posted a new animated banner to the top right of this blog, and I hope that all of my readers noticed. It, as well as this post, was meant to serve as my contribution to promoting Shaykh Gibril F. Haddad's latest book, The Refutation of Him (Ibn Taymiyya) Who Attributes Direction to Allah. This is the most recent effort by not only Shaykh Gibril, but many other scholars as well, who are striving to stem the contemporary tide of theological anthropomorphism that self-proclaimed "Salafis", backed by petrodollars, are actively spreading.

In light of the fact that these well-funded activists, craftily hiding under the guise of their deceptively false claim of being the true Ahl al-Sunnah, are having a negative impact on Muslim communities throughout the globe, a translation of this key tract is very timely. Just as it was necessary for a scholar who was a contemporary of Ibn Taymiyya to pen a response to his glaring errors, having a translation of this key work available for those wanting to avoid the errors of those who take their 'aqidah from Pharaoh is of paramount importance in well.

The book in question is a translation of a "short theological tract, Fi Nafi al-Jiha, or On Denying Direction to God, by the Ashari theologian and celebrated Shafi’i jurist, Qadi Ibn Jahbal (d. 733/1333), is a clinical rebuttal of the controversial fatwa, the Aqida Hamawiyya, penned by his legendary contemporary, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). It is considered, rightly, a classic manifesto of anti-literalism, which will be an indispensable reference for advanced students of Islamic theology, other professional theologians, and modern academics needing primary source materials in English or a source book on the controversies surrounding Ibn Taymiyya’s theology." The Forward to The Refutation of Him (Ibn Taymiyya) Who Attributes Direction to Allah is written by the honorable Shaykh Muhammad Afifi Al-Akiti and the Table of Contents has been made available on-line as well.

While on the subject of Ibn Taymiyya, I'll mention that I'm currently reading, and very much enjoying, the newly released Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. Unsurprisingly, the editor Tim Winter (a.k.a. Abdal-Hakim Murad) has something to say about Ibn Taymiyya in this fascinating intellectual and theological history. After recognizing (on page 7) that "the three great Sunnî theological schools"—yes, that's three and not two—consist of "Ash'arism, Mâturidism and Hanbalism" and mentioning (on page 9) that "extremist Hanbalites" might not necessarily be representative of this theological school as a whole, the noble Shaykh later (page 10) goes on to mention the most well-known proponent of this "extremist" view, Ibn Taymiyya:

"Certainly, it is intriguing that the Hanbalî alternative in most places represented no more than a small fringe, just as the Hanbalî definition of Sharî'a remained the smallest of the rites of law. The iconic hard-line champion of this school, Ibn Taymiyya…is not conspicuous in the catalogues of Islamic manuscript libraries; his current renown is a recent phenomenon. Ibn Taymiyya was, indeed, imprisoned for heresy, a relatively unusual occurrence, and it would be hard to imagine Muslim society, or its rulers or scholars, punishing more philosophical thinkers like Ghazâlî, or Razî, or Taftâzânî, in the same way. 'Hard' Hanbalism offered a simple literalism to troubled urban masses, and occasionally won their violent, riotous support, but the consensus of Muslims passed it by."

This criticism of the "simple literalism" and "corporealism" of the "extremist Hanbalites" needs to be understood in the context of maintaining the "original collective spirit of sancta simplicitas" (page 8), and one also needs to recognize that "Monotheism, however, is never as simple as most of its advocates would wish" (page 6). For anyone familiar with the editor's Contentions 8, his description of "false Salafism" as "an unsuccessful flight from complexity" might well be brought to mind!

I was excited to see that a forthcoming title, edited by Mohammed S. Ahmed and Yosef Rapoport, entitled Ibn Taymiyya and His Times (Oxford University Press, 2008) was referenced...so we'll be looking forward to that, insha'llah.

Those wanting a brief discussion of the theological issue that Shaykh Gibril F. Haddad's new book addresses in detail, please see Allah Exists Without Place or Direction at Sunni Answers...an invaluable resource for responses to the neo-Salafi heresy.

Deen on...