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Ibn Taymiyah: A role model for the Wahabis/Salafis
Osama bin Laden illustrates his devout admiration for Ibn Taymiyah in the ?Declaration of Jihad against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places, released on August 23, 1996. Gillis Kepel notes that this eleven-page tract, best known by its subtitle Expel the Polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula, is crammed with quotations from the Koran, hadiths of the Prophet, and references to Ibn Taymiyya.{25}. Making lengthy references to Ibn Taymiyya, he invites the faithful to forgo their differences and unite against the Al-Saud family, who have collaborated with the Zionist-Crusader alliance {26}. Indeed, Ibn Taymiyah is an inspiration to Islamist groups that call for revolution. Kepel says, Ibn Taymiyya (1268-1323) a primary reference for the Sunni Islamist movement would be abundantly quoted to justify the assassination of Sadat in 1981and even to condemn the Saudi leadership and call for its overthrow in the mid-1990s {27}.
Sivan says that only six months before Sadat was assassinated, the weekly Mayo singled out Ibn Taymiyya as the most pervasive and deleterious influence upon Egyptian youth. Sivan further says that Mayo concluded that the proliferating Muslim associations at the universities, where Ibn Taymiyya’s views prevail, have been spawning various terrorist groups. Indeed, a book entitled The Absent Precept, by `Abd al-Salam Faraj the spiritual leader of Sadat’s assassins who was tried and executed by the Egyptian government strongly refers to Ibn Taymiyya’s and some of his disciple’s writings. The book was read, commented, and meditated upon by almost all the conspirators already brought to trial as well as by many other members of the Jihad Organization. Also, three of four of Sadat’s assassins willingly read a lot of Ibn Taymiyya’s works on their own {28}.
Ibn Taymiyah is also noted to be a favorite of other salafi extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Syed Qutb and Omar ibn Abdl-Rehman, spiritual leader of Islamic Jihad. Ibn Taymiyyah?s student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, is also frequently cited by salafis of all colors.
Ibn Taymiyah’s fatwa of jihad against Muslims
What is also well-known about Ibn Taymiyah is that he lived in turbulent times when the Mongols had sacked Baghdad and conquered the Abassid Empire in 1258. In 1303, he was ordered by the Mamluk Sultan to give a fatwa (religious edict) legalizing jihad against the Mongols. Waging a holy war on the Mongols for the purpose of eliminating any threat to Mamluk power was no easy matter. The Mongol Khan Mahmoud Ghazan had converted to Islam in 1295. Although they were Muslims who did not adhere to Islamic Law in practice, and also supported the Yasa Mongol of code of law, they were deemed apostates by the edict of Ibn Taymiyah. To Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Law was not only rejected by Mongols because of their lack of wholesale adherence, but the infidel Yasa code of law made them legal targets of extermination. The so-called jihad ensued and the Mongol threat to Syria was exterminated. Wahhabis and other salafis to this day brand the Mongol Mahmoud Ghazan as a kafir (disbeliever). Orthodox Sunni Muslims, however, have praised Mahmoud Ghazan as a Muslim. Muhammad Hisham Kabbani says:
In fact, Ghazan Khan was a firm believer in Islam. Al-Dhahabi relates that he became a Muslim at the hands of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Abu al-Majami? Ibrahim al-Juwayni (d.720), one of Dhahabi?s own shaykhs of hadith?.During his rule he had a huge mosque built in Tabriz in addition to twelve Islamic schools (madrasa), numerous hostels (khaniqa), forts (ribat), a school for the secular sciences, and an observatory. He supplied Mecca and Medina with many gifts. He followed one of the schools (madhahib) of the Ahl al-Sunna and was respectful of religious scholars. He had the descendants of the Prophet mentioned before the princes and princesses of his house in the state records, and he introduced the turban as the court headgear {29}.
Muhammad ibn Abdl-Wahhab would later follow Ibn Taymiyahs footsteps and slaughter thousands of Muslims in Arabia.
Reference:
Gilles, Kepel. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. pg. 317.
Ibid., Kepel. pg. 318.
Ibid., Kepel. pg. 72.
Sivan, Emmanuel. Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. pg. 102-103.
Kabbani, Hisham M (1996). Islamic Beliefs & Doctrine According to Ahl al-Sunna A Repudiation of ?Salafi? Innovations. Volume I. As-Sunna Foundation of America.
Sivan says that only six months before Sadat was assassinated, the weekly Mayo singled out Ibn Taymiyya as the most pervasive and deleterious influence upon Egyptian youth. Sivan further says that Mayo concluded that the proliferating Muslim associations at the universities, where Ibn Taymiyya’s views prevail, have been spawning various terrorist groups. Indeed, a book entitled The Absent Precept, by `Abd al-Salam Faraj the spiritual leader of Sadat’s assassins who was tried and executed by the Egyptian government strongly refers to Ibn Taymiyya’s and some of his disciple’s writings. The book was read, commented, and meditated upon by almost all the conspirators already brought to trial as well as by many other members of the Jihad Organization. Also, three of four of Sadat’s assassins willingly read a lot of Ibn Taymiyya’s works on their own {28}.
Ibn Taymiyah is also noted to be a favorite of other salafi extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Syed Qutb and Omar ibn Abdl-Rehman, spiritual leader of Islamic Jihad. Ibn Taymiyyah?s student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, is also frequently cited by salafis of all colors.
Ibn Taymiyah’s fatwa of jihad against Muslims
What is also well-known about Ibn Taymiyah is that he lived in turbulent times when the Mongols had sacked Baghdad and conquered the Abassid Empire in 1258. In 1303, he was ordered by the Mamluk Sultan to give a fatwa (religious edict) legalizing jihad against the Mongols. Waging a holy war on the Mongols for the purpose of eliminating any threat to Mamluk power was no easy matter. The Mongol Khan Mahmoud Ghazan had converted to Islam in 1295. Although they were Muslims who did not adhere to Islamic Law in practice, and also supported the Yasa Mongol of code of law, they were deemed apostates by the edict of Ibn Taymiyah. To Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Law was not only rejected by Mongols because of their lack of wholesale adherence, but the infidel Yasa code of law made them legal targets of extermination. The so-called jihad ensued and the Mongol threat to Syria was exterminated. Wahhabis and other salafis to this day brand the Mongol Mahmoud Ghazan as a kafir (disbeliever). Orthodox Sunni Muslims, however, have praised Mahmoud Ghazan as a Muslim. Muhammad Hisham Kabbani says:
In fact, Ghazan Khan was a firm believer in Islam. Al-Dhahabi relates that he became a Muslim at the hands of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Abu al-Majami? Ibrahim al-Juwayni (d.720), one of Dhahabi?s own shaykhs of hadith?.During his rule he had a huge mosque built in Tabriz in addition to twelve Islamic schools (madrasa), numerous hostels (khaniqa), forts (ribat), a school for the secular sciences, and an observatory. He supplied Mecca and Medina with many gifts. He followed one of the schools (madhahib) of the Ahl al-Sunna and was respectful of religious scholars. He had the descendants of the Prophet mentioned before the princes and princesses of his house in the state records, and he introduced the turban as the court headgear {29}.
Muhammad ibn Abdl-Wahhab would later follow Ibn Taymiyahs footsteps and slaughter thousands of Muslims in Arabia.
Reference:
Gilles, Kepel. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. pg. 317.
Ibid., Kepel. pg. 318.
Ibid., Kepel. pg. 72.
Sivan, Emmanuel. Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. pg. 102-103.
Kabbani, Hisham M (1996). Islamic Beliefs & Doctrine According to Ahl al-Sunna A Repudiation of ?Salafi? Innovations. Volume I. As-Sunna Foundation of America.