تحقيق مذهب شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية في مسألتي
العذر بالجهل وتكفير المعين
Verifying Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah's View Regarding the Issues:
The Excuse of Ignorance and Mu'ayyan Takfîr
Shaykh Abd'ur Rahmân bin Hasan Rahimahullâh1
[Introduction]In the name of Allâh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allâh alone. May peace and blessings be upon the one whom there is no prophet after.
Know; o seeker of the truth and who aspires to know sincerity and truthfulness, that a document has reached us from an evil man.2 This document contains cautioning from Takfîr without verifying and redacting. This document reads,Quote"Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah said while refuting the Râfidhah from amongst the Khawârij and Mu'tazilah."
I (Abd'ur Rahmân bin Hasan) say: This statement is by one who does not have knowledge. Our concern is not clarifying the ignorance and nonsense found in this document. The one who has insight will be aware of the mistakes found in it.3
He then said, Quote"Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah said, "These people who invented methodology -and deemed that the Messenger could only be affirmed by this methodology, and that knowing this methodology is a condition of faith, which is obligatory upon individuals- are people of innovation according to the Salaf (predecessors), the Imâms, the majority of proficient scholars of the Ummah and those who followed them with excellence. These methodologies are absurd according to the intellect and invented according to the Sharî'ah."
Until the statement by Ibnu Taymiyyah, "From amongst the affairs of the people of innovation is that they innovate views and deem it to be obligatory in religion. Moreover, they deem it to be part of inevitable faith. They declare Takfîr upon those who oppose them in this issue and regard legitimize their blood. This is similar to the actions of the Khawârij, the Jahmiyyah, the Râfidhah, the Mu'tazilah, and others.
The Ahl'us Sunnah do not innovate views nor declare Takfîr upon those who make a mistake by way of Ijtihâd (independent reasoning), even though their opponents legitimize their blood. Such as the Sahâbah -may Allâh be pleased with them- not declaring Takfîr upon the Khawârij who declared Takfîr upon them and legitimized the blood of the Muslims whom oppose them."4
This man conveyed Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah's words regarding the Khawârij, the Jahmiyyah, the Mu'tazilah, and others piece by piece. From the words by Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah, he took whatever he intended to use to deceive and mislead, and left whatever contained clarification and elaboration in the Shaykh's words.
We have not come across a good interpretation to be construed for this person narrating from the statements by Shaykh'ul Islâm and others and there was no need prompting him to narrate them. Since in the Arabian Peninsula and the places around it,
• No one adopts the view of the Khawârij declaring Takfîr upon the Sahâbah and others from Ahl'ul Îmân due to sins that do not make one enter Kufr,
• No one who claims al-Manzilatu Bayna'l Manzilatayn5 and denies fate like the Mu'tazilah,
• No one who rejects the attributes of the High Lord like the Jahmiyyah, and
• No one who goes to extremes with regards to the household of the Nabî Sallallâhu Alayhi wa Sallam and claims that they are deities like the Râfidhah.
When this is the case, it is known that by these narrations he meant the people of this Islâmic call that appeared in Najd. A large community and a great number of people from this Ummah benefited from this call. By means of this call, they adhered to the methodology from the Book and the Sunnah, and were supported with what the Salaf of the Ummah concurred upon, and what the followers of the Salaf of the Imâms such as Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah and his student Allâmah Muhammad Ibn'ul Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, and their Salaf from Ahl'us Sunnah wa'l Jamâ'ah established.
This man was ruined by the corruptness of his creed. This is why he does not view obvious (grave) Shirk as a great sin that makes its possessor enter Kufr. He directed his opposition and defamation to those who opposed Shirk, who have separated from its people, and who have declared Takfîr upon them due to the Book, Sunnah, and consensus.
It is well-known that Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah and his likes from the scholars of Sunnah are amongst those who opposed Shirk the most. When Shirk appeared in their era and calamity spread with it, they objected this and clarified that this is grave Shirk itself that the polytheists of old were upon, as will come later on in the statement by Shaykh'ul Islâm Ibnu Taymiyyah Rahimahullâhu Taâlâ.
From these polytheists occurred those who declared Takfîr upon the people of Tawhîd because they had pure sincerity, had isolated (from Shirk), and had opposed the people who associated partners and rivals with Allâh. This is why they said, "You are Khawârij! You are Mubtadi'ah!" As a matter of fact, Allâmah Ibn'ul Qayyim points to a similar situation in his era with the following words,
"Am I the one who resembles the Khawârij! They have declared Takfîr... Upon those who sin, while having a forceful interpretation and without reckoning!
They have their textual proofs, which they fell short from understanding... That is why they have been kept short of acknowledgement!
Our opponents declared Takfîr upon us with that which is... The pinnacle of Tawhîd and faith!"6
This man has followed the path of those who have declared Takfîr with pure Tawhîd. When we say, "There is none to be worshipped except Allâh! There is none to be invoked except Him! There is none to be hoped from except Him! There is none to be trusted except Him!" and similar things that are from the types of worship that only befit Allâh and that whosoever directs them to other than Allâh is an unbelieving polytheist, they say, "You have accused the nation of Muhammad with innovation and have declared Takfîr upon them! You are Khawârij! You are Mubtadi'ah!"
Later, he took from the statements of Shaykh'ul Islâm about the people of innovation, which he used to innuendo the people of Tawhîd. Whereas, the statements by Shaykh'ul Islâm are not obscure regarding those who associate partners with Allâh, Shaykh'ul Islâm Rahimahullâhu Taâlâ said, "Whoever appoints intermediaries between himself and Allâh, invokes them, asks from them and puts his trust in them becomes Kâfir by consensus."7
1- Tahqîq Madhhab Shaykh'il Islâm Ibni Taymiyyah, published by Badr al-Utaybî and ad-Durar'us Saniyyah, 11/446-492. We used the version by Badr al-Utaybî as the primary manuscript during our translation.
2- According to the information provided by the verifier, this treatise by the Shaykh is in refutation to Uthmân bin Mansûr, a student of Dâwûd bin Jarjîs.
3- The issue is ignorance and nonsense as the Shaykh Rahimahullâh has stated, since the Râfidhah and Khawârij are two opposite sects. How is it possible that the person who said this expresses that these people are from the Rawâfidhah who are among the Khawârij and Mu'tazilah? Moreover, these statements by Ibnu Taymiyyah Rahimahullâh are found within his book Minhâj'us Sunnah, a refutation to the Qadarî Shî'ah. What is the relation between the Khârijî and Mu'tazilî sects with this book?
4- Ibnu Taymiyyah, Minhâj'us Sunnah, 5/94-95.
5- Al-Manzilatu Bayna'l Manzilatayn is the creed that a "Fâsiq (corrupt person)" cannot be called a "Mu'min (believer)" just as he cannot be called a "Kâfir (disbeliever)". Thereby, they positioned such person between the two categories (Mu'min and Kâfir), not including him in either one. (al-Fatâwa'l Kubrâ li Ibni Taymiyyah, 5/85)
6- Ibn'ul Qayyim, al-Kâfiyat'ush Shâfiyah [Nûniyyah], Maktabah Ibni Taymiyyah, p. 138.
7- With similar wording in Majmû'ul Fatâwâ, 1/124; Badr'ud Dîn al-Ba'lî, Mukhtasar'ul Fatâwa'l Misriyyah, Rakâ'iz, 1/412; al-Fatâwâ'l Kubrâ, 5/535; al-Mardâwî, al-Insâf, Dâru Hajr, 27/108.