Ibn Taimiyah

Shaykh al-Islam Taqi ud-Din Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad Ibn al-Halim ibn Abd al-Salam Ibn Taymiyah al-Hanbali was born in , 661 AH(1263 AC) in Haran, which is now in Eastern Turkey, near the border of northern Iraq..His family had long been renowned for its learning. His father 'Abdul-Halim (Shihab al-Din), uncle Fakhr ud-Din and grandfather Majd ud-Din were great scholars of Hanbalite school of jurisprudence and the authors of many books. His family members were forced to leave their native place before the approach of the Mongols and to take refuge in Damascus. At that time, Ibn Taimiyah was seven years old. His father 'Abdul-Halim was appointed as Professor and Head of the Sukkariyah Madrasah.

Endowed with a penetrating intellect and a wonderful memory, Ibn Taimiyah studied, at an early stage, all the disciplines of jurisprudence, Ahadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), commentaries of the Quran, mathematics and philosophy, and in each he was far lead of his contemporaries. Among his teachers, was Shams ud-Din Al-Maqdisi, first Hanbali Chief Justice of Syria following the reform of the judiciary by Baibars. The number of Ibn Taimiyah's teachers exceeds two hundred. Ibn Taimiyah was barely seventeen, when Qadi Al-Maqdisi authorized him to issue Fatwa (legal verdict). Qadi remembered with pride that it was he who had first permitted an intelligent and learned man like Ibn Taimiyah to give Fatwa. At the same age, he started delivering lectures. When he was thirty, he was offered the office of Chief Justice, but refused, as he could not persuade himself to follow the limitations imposed by the authorities.

Imam Ibn Taimiyah's education was essentially that of a Hanbali theologian and jurisconsult. But to his knowledge of early and classical Hanbalism, he added not only that of the other schools of jurisprudence but also that of other literature, in particular of philosophy and Sufism. He had an extensive knowledge of Quran, Sunnah, Greek philosophy, Islamic history, and religious books of others, as is evident from the variety of the books he wrote. Though he preferred the Hanbali school of jurisprudence, he was never biased in favor of it. In his writings, he frequently quoted the opinions of all four of the well-known schools of jurisprudence, even others. In a number of matters, he himself held opinions different from those of the four schools.In fact, he was an original thinker (Mujtahid) who merely drew upon the wisdom of the four established schools.

In all his reformative efforts, Ibn Taimiyah accepted the Quran and the Sunnah as the basic criteria. In matters where there was no clear guidance from the Quran and the Sunnah, he never hesitated to venture into rational thought and took the path of Ijtihad or creative originality an initiative.

Taken from [byiness]
To read more about Ibn Taimiyah: [MuslimHeritage]
For more of his translated books: [kitaabun]