JAMES(Japanese Association of Middle
Eastern Studies) International Workshop “Changing Knowledge and Authority in Islam”
2004/3/26, The
‘‘The Influence of Ibn Taymiyyah's Thought in Contemporary Islam’’
Dr.
Hassan Ko Nakata (
Introduction.
It is reported that US occupation forces arrested Muslims in Ibn Taimiyyah Mosque, renamed after Iraqi war, on charge of illegal possession of weapons in Baghdad on 2nd Jan., as well as the Shaikh Mahmud `Isawi, newly appointed Imam of Abduluqadir al-Jilani Mosque which is the headquater of the Qadiriyyah Sufi order, the oldest and largest Sufi order in the Islamic world, is an ardent supporter of Ibn Taimiyyah.(Tokyo Shinbun, 9th Jan. 2004)
They are the symbolical events that show the increasing influence of Ibn Taimiyyah in contemporary Islam in both level of thought and movement, i.e., reform of Sufism and Jihad movement.
Ibn Taimiyyah is one of the most original and influential personalities in Islamic history. His influence has been increasing rapidly since the middle of 18th century thanks to Wahhabism and Salafiyyah movement, both of which are based on Ibn Taimiyyah’s thought. But ironically, the more his influence increases the less his name mentioned, because his thought has been accepted and shared to become anonymous as consensus.
In this paper, first we clarify the originalities(the concept of “originality” is not appropriate in study of Islam but here I use it just for convenience’ sake) of Ibn Taimiyyah’s thoughts in brief, then explain influences of him in contemporary Islam in various levels.
1. Originalities of Ibn Taimiyyah
Ibn Taimiyyah criticized many aspects of Islam of his age because he believed that it deviated from true Islam that is revealed by Qur’an and Sunnah.
We may categorize his critics into 4 main categories, (1)`aqidah(faith), (2)usul al-fiqh(principle of fiqh), (3)fiqh(jurisprudence), (4)Sufism.
(1)As for ‘Aqidah, he criticized `ilm al-kalam(theology) itself even `Ashariyyah and Maturidiyyah, needless to say Mu`tazilah, Shi`ah and philosophers, for the most of concepts used by them are foreign elements and have no base in Qur’an and Sunnah.
He summarizes triple tawhid(monotheism)of theologians, tawhid of dhat(essence), tawhid of sifat(attributes), and tawhid of af`al(action). The tawhid of dhat means that Allah is one and not composed of parts. The tawhid of sifat(attributes) means that His attributes are all unique and have nothing common with creatures’ ones except names. The tawhid of af`al(action) means that there is no real actor but Allah and all the actions of the creatures are created by Allah. Ibn Taimiyyah criticized this theologians’ triple tawhid theory’s lack of practical aspect of tawhid and replaced theologians’ triple tawhid theory with his own double tawhid theory. He says that tawhid is classified tawhid al-rububiyyah(lordnes) and tawhid al-ilahiyyah(godhood). According to him, lexicographically rabb(lord) means ‘sustainer’ and ilah(god) means ‘worshiped(ma`bud)’ and tawhid al-rububiyyah is to recognize that Allah is the sole Creature and Sustainer of the universe and tawhid al-ilahiyyah is to devote one’s worship exclusively to Allah by observing only His commandments, i.e., shari`ah. He says: ÒIt is worship of Allah only without partner with him and that we should not worship him except through what he loves and what he is satisfied with, and that is what he orders and prescribes on the tongues of his apostles”.(al-Hasanah wa al-Sai’iah, p.105). In fact, tawhid al-ilahiyyah is practical in the meaning that it requires full-devotion itself, while tawhid al-rububiyyah is purely theoretical And he concludes that tawhid al-ilahiyyah is the Merkmal that distinguishes Islam from kufr(disbelief) even though the tawhid al-rububiyyah is the prerequisite for tawhid al-ilahiyyah, because even the polytheists of Arab admitted that Allah is the Creator but were called polytheists for their worship of other gods besides Allah.
By making tawhid al-ilahiyyah merkmal of Islam, he succeeds to clarify the simple criteria to judje any persons or groups who deviate from worship of Allah prescribed by Qur`an and Sunnah as non-believer regardless of contents of their faith however sophisticated.
(2) In usul al-fiqh, his advocated the obligation of ijtihad(personal free legal reasoning in case of lack of clear textual commandments of Qur`an and Sunnah) and denial of authority of ijma`(consensus). In his age, all the established customs are justified by the name of ijma` In reality ijma` was the opinion of the majority, not consensus, and he rejected the very existence of ijma`(consensus) then the authority of so called ijma`(opinion of the majority), so he dared to reject contemporary opinions of the majority contrary to the Qur’n wa Sunnah. Consequently, he rejected authorities of Sunni four legal schools, Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki, and Hanbali, and obligation of following them(taqlid theory).
(3) In fiqh, the most famous issue of his originality is his denial of talaq bid`i(innovated divorce). Talaq bid`i means to divorce the wife by saying formula of talaq(divorce) 3 times at once and it had gotten accepted in Sunni 4 schools of law including Hanbali school to which he himself belonged in his time but he didn’t admitted its validity. It enraged majority of ulama’ of his age and consequently he was jailed because of it and he died in prison.
While his talaq theory has been well known since his lifetime, his theoretically more radical and important innovation in fiqh has been unnoticed, which is his denial of concept of baghy(revolt) in hudud(Islamic penal laws) and his substituting it for the concept of deviation from shari`ah. The “Baghy” is one of hudud criminals established in Sunni 4 schools of law(theft, robbery, adultery, drinking, calumny of adultery, and apostasy). Baghy is defined as the revolt against the legitimate Imam according to one’s own interpretation of Islam and Imam’s legitimacy stems from his legitimate procedure of inauguration through one of the 3 legitimate ways, i.e., (a)election by ahl al-hall wa al-`aqd, (b)nomination from the former Imam, and (c)conquest by force. But Ibn Taimiyyah does not accept this framework of legitimacy of Imam at all. According to him, one’s rule is legitimate only when he rules by shari`ah. And if he deviates from shari`ah, he becomes apostate and jihad against him becomes obligatory. And the revolt against the ruler is not a hudud criminal but just a struggle for the power and thus the conciliation between two parties is required. This new concept is coined in response to the invasion of Tatar(Mongol) Il Khanid which was converted to Shi`i Islam nominally but violated shari`ah, about which Ibn Taimiyyah was asked for fatwa whether inhabitants might fight against the ruler who accepted Islam but did not rule acoording to Shari`ah or not.
(4) The main points of Ibn Taimiyyah’s criticism of Sufism might be summarized as denial of monism and intercession. He did not differentiate Hallaj(d.922)-type incarnation theory (hulul and ittihad) from wahdah al-wujud (oneness of existence)theory of Ibn Arabi(d.1240) and his followers and regarded all of them as the most dangerous form of disbelief far from perfection of tawhid because the tawhid is separation of the Creator from the creature as al-Junaid(d.910) says.
According to him, to seek intercession from Sufi saints is nothing but the polytheism. He criticized every kind of saint-worship but his most concerned issue was the pilgrimage to the tomb of the saint to seek his intercession.
2. Influence on `Aqidah
His Tawhid theory is clearly formulated in Sharh `Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah ascribed to Ibn Abi al-`Izz al-Hanafi(d.1390). It is said that: “ Tawhid is from first to last tawhid al-Ilahiyyah meant by me. For the tawhid includes 3 kinds, the first is discussion about attributes, the second is tawhid al-rububiyyah and explanation of the fact that solely Allah is the Creator of every thing, and the third is tawhid al-ilahiyyah which means that only He - praise be upon Him – is worth being worshipped without any partner besides him.”(pp.19-20)
This author added another Tawhid, tawhid al-sifat, and in this respect it is not a development but a retrgressin which blurs the contrast between two different types of tawhid, tawhid al-ilahiyyah and tawhid al-rububiyyaha, for the tauhid al-sifat is a part of tawhid al-rububiyyah in Ibn Taimiyyah’s system, thought the author is still stressing that tawhid al-ilahiyyah is the criteria of Islam.
Ibn Taimiyyah’s tawhid theory has become so
widely accepted by Wahhabis and Salafies that his name comes to scarecely be
mentioned related to it as its founder. His tawhid theory comes to be taught
institutionally in Islamic educational institutions in Saudi Arabia, whose
stronghold is Imam Muhmmad bn Saud Islamic University in Riyad, and ones formally
and informally associated with them all over the world, as well as taught as
text book of `aqidah in “layman” Salafis’ circles in Arab world, including “social-political”
ones like al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah in Egypt. And additionally countless small pamphlets
of the theory is being distributed by Muslim World League(based in Makkah) and
World Assembly of Muslim Youth(based in
Thus his tawhid theory becomes one of the two major school of `aqidah in Sunnite, i.e., next to Ash`ari-Maturidi theology. But now there might be indications which show that his tawhid theory is integrating Ash`ari-Maturidi theology in order that it makes a united structure of monotheism(tawhid) whose superstructure is tawhid al-ilahiyyah and understructure is tawhid al-rububiyah. We give 2 examples here. The first is Sharh Jawharah al-Tawhid edited by Muhammad Adib al-Kailani and Abd al-Karim Tattan (supervised by Abd-al-Karim al-Rifa`i), which inserts the explanation of tawhid al-ilahiyyah and tawhid al-rububiyyah in the beginning of commentary on the oneness(wahdaniyyah) of Allah which does not exist in original Sharh of al-Bajuri(d.1860) without mentioning that it is editors’ addition needless to say referring the name of Ibn Taimiyyah.(cf., Sharh Jawharah al-Tawhid, edited by Muhammad Adib al-Kailani & Abd al-Karim Tattan, supervised by Abd-al-Karim al-Rifa`i, Damascus, 1971, pp.97-98, Ibrahim bn Muhammad al-Bayjuri Sharh Jawharah al-Tawhid, Beirut, 1983, pp.59-60)It is very important because the Sharh Jawharah al-Tawhid is one of the most established standard textbooks of traditional Ash`ari-Maturidi and is the target of Wahhabi-Salafi critics, one of whose example is Umar bn Mahmud Abu Umar’s , al-Radd al-Athari al-Mufid ala al-Bajuri fi Sharh Jawharah al-Tawhid(Jordan, 1989).
The second example is Wahbah al=Zuhaili’s , al=Tafsir
al=Munir(30 vol.), one of the most voluminous contemporary tafsirs(Qur`anic
commentaries). It is based in general on the classical tafsir Tafsir
al=Jalalain which is written according to Ash`ari-Shafi`i schools. But the
auther inserted inserts the explanation of tawhid
al-ilahiyyah and tawhid al-rububiyyah in the beginning of tafsir surah Hud without referring
the name of Ibn Taimiyyah. He says,” Tawhid of Allah is two kind. (a) Tawid al-uluhiiyah(synonymous
woith ilahiyyah): Worship of Allah alone and lack of worship anything but He,
as the Exalted says in the beginning of the chapter of Hud not to worship
except Allah. Consequently worship of anything but He is disbelief and
delusion. (b) Tawhid al-rububiyyah: i.e., The belief that Allah alone is the
Creator and Administrator of this universe and he is the Controller in it
according to His wisdom’s requirement and order of His custom. Even the Arab of
Jahiliyyah(pre-Islamic era) believed that Allah is the Creator Lord, ‘ if you
asked them who created the heavens and the earth and subjugated the sun and the
moon, they replay, Allah’, but they claimed multiplicity of gods.”(al-Tafsir
al-Munir, vol.12,
Beirut-Damascus, 1991, p.7.)
3. Influence on Usul al-fiqh
Ibn Taimiyyah’s critic of taqlid and advocacy
of ijtihad is expatiated by Ibn Qaiyim al-Jauziyyah(d.1350) in his I`lam
al-Muwaqqi`in. Wahhabis in
It is worth mentioning here that his argument of ijtihad is issue of fuqaha’ and nothing to do with ordinary people, but contemporary debate on ijtihad involves not only fuqaha’ but also so called Muslim “intellectuals”. So paradoxically not only “orthodox reformist” Wahhabi-Salafi fuqaha’ and Islamist “intellectuals” of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Jama`t-i Islami are influenced by him but also modernist-reformists like Nurkhorish Majid is inspired by his idea, who attained his Doctorate degree on the subject of “Ibn Taimiya on Kalam and Falsafa’ from Chicago Univ. in 1984.
4. Influence on fiqh
His criticism on talaq bid`i is accepted by Wahhabi fuqaha’ and even adopted into family law of some Arab countries but his criticism on concept of baghy has still been unnoticed.
But what gives the most wide-ranging influence on contemporary Islam is his throry of jihad against the ruler who deviated from shari`ah. It is inherited by two of his disciples, Ibn Qaiyim al-Jawziyyah and Ibn Kathir(d.1373). And then, mixed with his theory of tawhid a-ilahiyyah, it became the theoretical base of Wahhabi movement which fought against Ottoman Caliphate whom it believed supporting polytheism. And the general mufti of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bn Ibrahim al al-Shaikh(d.1969) concluded that substitute of the man-made western positive laws for shari`ah is the greatest disbelief, citing Ibn Kathir’s judjement on Tatars in his Tafsir. And his book Tahkim al-Qawanin(To Seek Arbitration for Positive laws) seems to be the first one of fiqh which judges the Western man-made positive laws are kufr(disbelief) from the stand point of fiqh(Islamic Jurisprudence) and reprinted by contemporary Wahhabi-reformists like Safar al-Hawali and distributed in Saudiarabia.
In antigovernment movements, ideologues of Egyptian Jihad group like Abd al-Salam Faraj and Aiman Zawahiri and Mufti of al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah Umar Abd al-Rahman are influenced by Ibn Taimiyyah and identifies rulers of contemporary Arab states as the modern Tatar and elaborated Ibn Taimiiyyah’s theory and transformed it into revolutionary jihad theory.
As for ideologues of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun like two martyrs, Abd al-Qadir `Audah(d.1960) who says, “One of the clear example of disbelief of our age is rejection of rule according to Islamic legislation and enforcement of the positive laws in place of it.”(Abd al-Qadir `Audah, al-Tashri` al-Jina’i al-Islami, vol.2, p.708) and Saiyyid Qutb(d.1966) whose Jahiliyyah theory is too famous to be in need of explanation here, I could find neither direct nor indirect textual proof of his influence, although the same vain seems evident in their thinking.
Since 1980s, revolutionary jihad theory, first coined by Ibn Taimiyyah and elaborated by Egyptian jihadist ideologues, has become shared among most of Islamist in the world, not only among “radicals” but also among “moderates” like Hadi Awang, the President of PAS(Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party), who graduated from Islamic University in Madinah which is established for propagation of Wahhabism abroad and is said to be the first Islamic scholar who began to teach tawhid ilahiyyah theory in Malaysia and accuses the ruling party UMNO for disbelief and stresses on monotheism(tawhid) of the legislation saying “ Belief in the Exaletd Transcend Allah from the angle of rububiyyah and the angle of uluhiyyah should be confirmed by tawhid from the angle of legislation(hukumia)”(Abdulhadi Awang, Muqadimah `Aqidah al-Muslimin, Kota Bharu, 1996, p.122), though the moderates are so prudent that they would not dare to apply the theory impatiently into action, as is definitively shown by the fact that Hadi is elected as the chief minister of state of Trengganu in Malaysia trough democratic election in 1999 and has ruled Trengganu since then as the chief minster in the very framework of Malaysian .federative constitution that he criticizes harshly as the legislation of kufr(disbelief) without any troubles.
5. Influence on Sufism
Generally speaking, Ibn Taimiyyah invented a new paradigm in Sufi discourse and many books on Sufism are written following his paradigm in contemporary Arab world as “Ibn Taimiyyah and Sufism” by Mustafa Hilmy, a professor of Dar al-`Ulum in Cairo.
Ibn Taimiyyah’s criticism of monism influenced
contemporary Sufis so much that quite a lot of contemporary Sufis, especially “neo-Sufis,
come to avoid using term wahdah al-wujud(oneness of existence) or argue that
sayings of Ibn Arabi accused as monism are falsely ascribed to him in defense
of him. Neo-Sufis of Shadhiliyyah and Naqshbandiyyah are trying conciliation
between Ibn Taimiyyah and Ibn Arabi through moderate interpretation of Ibn
Arabi’s text. Reformist `Ashirah Muhammadiyyah, an Egyptian branch of
Shadhiliyyah, published the debate between Ibn `Ata’i Allah and Ibn Taimiyyah,
in order to call for conciliation and unity confronting contemporary crisis
common to all of them. And Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari compare Ibn Taimiyyah to
Ahmad Sirhindi, the great master of Naqshbandiyyah.(Sufism and Shari`ah,
While most of the Sufi customs deviated
from Shari`ah that Ibn Taimiyyah’s criticized has been purified, at least in
terms of theory, the matter of intercession is still the most controversial
issue among the Ulama’(scholars of Islam). Especially to seek intercession from
the dead Sufi saints, i.e., pilgrimage of their tombs, is the main target of
Wahhabis and Salafis who follow Ibn Taimiyyah. Wahhabi movement carried out jihad
against Ottoman subjects in Arab peninsula because of their deviation from
Conclusion
Ibn Taimiyyah’s appeal for return to original source of Islam, Qur`an ann Sunnah, and denial of customs deviating from them has become well accepted in the modern age because the traditional religious authorities and establishments have being losing its credibility when most of the Muslim territories has been colonized. And Ibn Taimiiyyah’s theory of Tawhid provides an extraordinarily useful ideological weapon for criticism, because it shows the clear criteria for distinguishing Islam from disbelief which dispenses with scholastic debate on theology and metaphysical Sufism, for such arguments of tawhid al-rububiyyah is not the criteria for Islam at all. Wahhabis and Salafis might have spread rapidly partly because of this clearness and integrity of the tawhid theory.
Furthermore, connected with his revolutionary jihad theory, his tawhid theory has an implication of total rejection of western legislation system, as has been developed by the late Muhammad bn Ibrahim Al al=Shaik and Egiptian jihadist ideologues, for “hakimiyyah(rulership) is the most important element of ilahiyyah(lordship).
So we need to study Ibn Taimiyyah’s thoughts more deeply in order to understand the ideological basic structures of contemporary Sunni Islam in general and reformists and revolutionaries in particular.