salahdin
Junior Member
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Historical views
Throughout history, many scholars and thinkers have praised ibn Taymiyyah and his works.
Ibn Taymiyyah's student and renowned scholar in his own right, Ibn Kathir stated:
“ He (Ibn Taymiyyah) was knowledgeable in fiqh. And it was said that he was more knowledgeable of fiqh of the madh'habs than the followers of those very same madh'habs, (both) in his time and other than his time. He was a scholar of the fundamental issues, the subsidiary issues, of grammar, language, and other textual and intellectual sciences. And no scholar of a science would speak to him except that he thought the science was of speciality of Ibn Taymiyyah. As for Hadith, then he was the carrier of its flag, a Hafidh, able to distinguish the weak from the strong and fully acquainted with the narrators.[22] ”
Ibn Taymiyyah's other student, Al-Dhahabi stated:
“ Ibn Taymiyyah...the matchless individual of the time with respect to knowledge, cognizance, intelligence, memorisation, generosity, asceticism, excessive braveness and abundancy of (written) works. May Allah rectify and direct him. And we, by the praise of Allah, are not amongst those who exaggerate about him and nor are we of those who are harsh and rough with him. No one with perfection like that of the Imams and Tabieen and their successors has been seen and I did not see him (Ibn Taymiyyah) except engrossed in a book.[23] ”
The widely-known Hanbali scholar, Ibn Rajab stated :
“ He (Ibn Taymiyyah) is the Imam, the legal jurist, the Mujtahid, the Scholar of Hadith, the Hafiz, the Explainer of the Quran, the Ascetic, Taqi ad-Din Abu al-Abbas Shaykh al-Islam, the most knowledgable of the knowledgable. It is not possible to exaggerate his renown when he is mentioned and his fame does not require us to write a lengthy tract on him. He, may Allah have mercy upon him, was unique in his time and with respect to understanding the Quran and knowledge of the realities of faith...[24] ”
The famed Shafi scholar, Al-Mizzi stated:
“ I have not seen the likes of him (Ibn Taymiyyah) and his own eye had not seen the likes of him. I have not seen one who has more knowledge than he of the Book of the Sunnah of his Messenger, nor one who followed them more closely. [25] ”
The famous muhaddith, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani stated:
“ The acclaim of Taqi ad-Din (Ibn Taymiyyah) is more renowned than that of the Sun and titling him Shaykh al-Islam of his era remains until our time upon the virtuous tongues. It will continue tomorrow just as it was yesterday. No one refutes this but a person who is ignorant of his prestige or one who turns away from justice...[26] ”
More modern thinkers include an 18th century Arabian scholar named Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, who studied the works of ibn Taymiyyah and aimed to revive his teachings.
Ibn Taymiyyah is also revered as an intellectual and spiritual exemplar by many contemporary Salafis.
Historical views
Throughout history, many scholars and thinkers have praised ibn Taymiyyah and his works.
Ibn Taymiyyah's student and renowned scholar in his own right, Ibn Kathir stated:
“ He (Ibn Taymiyyah) was knowledgeable in fiqh. And it was said that he was more knowledgeable of fiqh of the madh'habs than the followers of those very same madh'habs, (both) in his time and other than his time. He was a scholar of the fundamental issues, the subsidiary issues, of grammar, language, and other textual and intellectual sciences. And no scholar of a science would speak to him except that he thought the science was of speciality of Ibn Taymiyyah. As for Hadith, then he was the carrier of its flag, a Hafidh, able to distinguish the weak from the strong and fully acquainted with the narrators.[22] ”
Ibn Taymiyyah's other student, Al-Dhahabi stated:
“ Ibn Taymiyyah...the matchless individual of the time with respect to knowledge, cognizance, intelligence, memorisation, generosity, asceticism, excessive braveness and abundancy of (written) works. May Allah rectify and direct him. And we, by the praise of Allah, are not amongst those who exaggerate about him and nor are we of those who are harsh and rough with him. No one with perfection like that of the Imams and Tabieen and their successors has been seen and I did not see him (Ibn Taymiyyah) except engrossed in a book.[23] ”
The widely-known Hanbali scholar, Ibn Rajab stated :
“ He (Ibn Taymiyyah) is the Imam, the legal jurist, the Mujtahid, the Scholar of Hadith, the Hafiz, the Explainer of the Quran, the Ascetic, Taqi ad-Din Abu al-Abbas Shaykh al-Islam, the most knowledgable of the knowledgable. It is not possible to exaggerate his renown when he is mentioned and his fame does not require us to write a lengthy tract on him. He, may Allah have mercy upon him, was unique in his time and with respect to understanding the Quran and knowledge of the realities of faith...[24] ”
The famed Shafi scholar, Al-Mizzi stated:
“ I have not seen the likes of him (Ibn Taymiyyah) and his own eye had not seen the likes of him. I have not seen one who has more knowledge than he of the Book of the Sunnah of his Messenger, nor one who followed them more closely. [25] ”
The famous muhaddith, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani stated:
“ The acclaim of Taqi ad-Din (Ibn Taymiyyah) is more renowned than that of the Sun and titling him Shaykh al-Islam of his era remains until our time upon the virtuous tongues. It will continue tomorrow just as it was yesterday. No one refutes this but a person who is ignorant of his prestige or one who turns away from justice...[26] ”
More modern thinkers include an 18th century Arabian scholar named Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, who studied the works of ibn Taymiyyah and aimed to revive his teachings.
Ibn Taymiyyah is also revered as an intellectual and spiritual exemplar by many contemporary Salafis.
