The Complete Picture of Ibnu Taymiyah

'The scholars of this period (i.e. During Ibn Taymiyyah's era) left all forms of Ijtihad and unanimously issued a legal ruling which was intended to close the door of Ijtihad permanently. They reasoned that all possible issues had already been raised and addressed, and there was therefore, no need for further Ijtihad. With that step, a new concept of Madhhab arose, namely that one of the four Madhhabs had to be followed for one's Islam to be valid. In time, this concept became firmly embedded among the masses as well as the scholars of Fiqh. Thus, the religion of Islam itself became restricted within the confines of the four existing Madhhabs; Hanafee, Malikee, Shafa'ee and Hambalee. These schools of law came to be considered as divinely ordained manifestations of Islam. All of them were supposed to be completely correct, equal and representative of true Islam, yet there were innumerable differences among them. In fact, there were scholars in this period who interpreted some Ahadeeth in such a way as to prove that the Prophet himself had predicted the appearance of the Imams and their Madhhabs. Consequently, any attempt to go beyond these canonical Madhhabs was considered heretical and anyone who refused to follow one of these Madhhabs was classified as an apostate. The hyper-conservative scholars of this stage even went so far as to rule that whoever was caught transferring from one Madhhab to another was liable to punishment at the discretion of the local judge. A ruling was also made in the Hanafee Madhhab prohibiting the marriage of a Hanafee to a Shafa'ee. And even the second most important pillar of Islam, Salaat was not spared the effects of Madhhab fanaticism. The followers of the various Madhhabs began to refuse to pray behind the Imams from other Madhhabs.' [Evolution of Fiqh by Bilal Philips, pg. 107]

'The factors, which led to Taqleed, also caused scholars to confine their creative activity to merely editing and revising previous works. The Fiqh books of earlier scholars were condensed and abridgements of them were made. These abridgements were later shortened in order to make them easy to memorize, and many of them were actually put to rhyme. This process of condensing continued until the summaries, which resulted became virtual riddles to the students of the day. The following generation of scholars began to write explanations of the summaries and poems. Later scholars wrote commentaries on the explanations and other added footnotes to the commentaries.' [Evolution of Fiqh by Dr. Bilal Philips, pg. 110]

Therefore, in Shaikhul-Islam's time, a degenerative trend resulted in abandoning all forms of Ijtihad, and Madhhabs of Fiqh emerged as independent separate entities closely resembling sects. Though Ibn Taymiyyah studied the Usool (principles) of the Hambali Fiqh, he did not show prejudice towards a particular Madhhab. He explained, 'In all my life until this hour, I have never called anyone ever in the principles of religion to the Hanbali madhhab or any other madhhab, and I do not support it and I do not mention it in my talk, I don't mention anything except what the Salaf and the scholars of the Ummah have agreed upon. And I have told them more than once, I give respite to him who disagreed with me for three years if he brings me one word from the scholars of the first three generations that contradicts what I have said then I will accept it. What I mention I quote from the first three generations word-for-word and I quote their renowned Ijma.' [Majmoo al-Fatawa (3/229). Quoted from the book, 'Dawah Shaikhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah wa-Athruha fi al-Harakat al-Islamiyyah al-Mu'asirah' by Salahud-din Maqbool Ahmad]

Ibn Taymiyyah called for a return to the original state of affairs whereby the common people took the knowledge of the Deen without prejudice towards individuals of a specific Madhhab. He said, 'If what was destined befalls a Muslim, then he should seek a verdict from someone whom he believes that he will reply according to the Sharee'ah of Allah and His Messenger from whichever Madhhab he may be, and it is not obligatory upon any Muslim to make Taqleed of (blindly-follow) one specific person from the scholars in everything he says, and it is not required from any Muslim to adhere to the madhhab of one specific person in everything that he necessitates and informs about. Rather, every person's word is taken and left except Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam). One's following a specific madhhab due to the excuse of his inability to know the Sharee'ah except through it (i.e., the person), then such is permissible for him. It is not from what is required from every person, even if he is able to know the Sharee'ah through a different path, rather every person should fear Allah in accordance with his ability, and seek knowledge of what Allah and His Messenger has commanded, so he carries out the prescribed and leaves the forbidden.' [Majmoo al-Fatawa (vol. 20)]

Ibn Taymiyyah's efforts and reformist endeavors energized the call towards returning to the pure religion, and the impact of his Dawah were seen much beyond Egypt and Syria, where he resided. After his death, the value and appreciation of his writings grew, while his opponents sank into oblivion.

Ibn Taymiyyah's legacy lives on in the Dawah of the scholars, movements and institutions that forward the call to Tawheed and Ittiba. They benefited greatly from Shaikhul-Islam's works and appreciated his wisdom and strong comprehension of the religion. The essence of Ibn Taymiyyah's Dawah can be seen in these scholars or institutions, in that they �

1. Give priority to establishing the pure worship of Allah, and warn against all manifestations of Shirk.

2. They promote the correct understanding of the Deen and clarify the doubts and distortions of the innovative sects.

3. They appreciate and refer to the teachings of all the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah but refrain from bigoted partisanship towards particular individuals thus opposing the destructive blind-following.

4. They call for the practical implementation of Islamic teachings whether in one's personal behavior, in transactions or in the society, and in taking Allah's Legislation to be the most supreme.

The most notable impact of Ibn Taymiyyah's teachings in the modern era can be seen by the effect on the most prominent reformer of the eighteenth century, Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab (rahimahullah). He raised the banner of Tawheed in the Arabian Peninsula at a time when practices like veneration and invoking graves, trees and stones for help, making vows to them and believing that they can harm or benefit were rampant. Arabia was seen largely as lawless and plunged in anarchy. The efforts of Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab's dawah eradicated all the open forms of Shirk including the many tombs that had become places of worship for other than Allah. It made Qur'aan and Sunnah to be the law of the land. It became a stepping-stone for the Dawah of Tawheed to spread to places far and wide like Sudan, Indonesia and most notably to India.

Like other parts of the Islamic world, during the sixteenth century, India too was plagued by various heretical groups that spread deviant practices amongst the people like saint worship, grave worship, innovations in worship, exaggeration in the status of the Ahlul-Bayt and the righteous, superstitions and sorcery. In addition to this, the people were away from the actual sources of Islam the Qur'aan and the Sunnah. The curriculum that was used in Islamic institutions included over 40 books on subjects like, logic and philosophy that had little to do with the actual religion. The study of Tafseer was limited to the starting two and half portions of the Qur'aan, and al-Mishkaat was the only book used to study hadeeth and that too, just for blessing and not for knowledge. It was well accepted amongst the scholars that the conclusions of the Madhhabs of Fiqh took precedence over the hadeeth.

As the biography of many scholars shows, their contact with students of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab during Hajj and Umrah, was a reason for their change in perspective and attitude towards the Hadeeth.

Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehelvi (1703-62) was from the first and most prominent scholars who believed in the permissibility of Ijtihad when necessary and encouraged the study of Hadeeth. He recognized the dangers and divisions caused by blind-adherence to Madhhabs and called for greater understanding and openness between the Madhhabs. He emphasized monotheism and called upon the deviation of Sufism to be kept in bounds - though he did not shun Sufism entirely.

Shah Waliullah's successors continues with his reformation ideas, until his grandson Shah Ismael Shaheed, openly called towards the way of the Salafus-Saleh and overtly called to Tawheed, rejected Shirk (as seen in his book, 'Taqwiyatul-Eeman') and vehemently opposed the fanatic blind-following of Madhhabs that results in giving the ruling of a Madhhab authority over the Qur'aan and the Sunnah. Shah Ismaeel strengthened the dawah that calls towards a return to the way of the Salaf and the revival of the study of Tafseer and Hadeeth. As a result, the study of Hadeeth flourished and the subsequent generation of Indian scholars contributed greatly to the science of Hadeeth by authoring books on the explanation of hadeeth and publishing Hadeeth compilations that were only found as manuscripts.

Amongst the most prominent Ahlul-Hadeeth scholars in India were Shaikh ul-Qul Mia Syed Nazeer Hussain Dehelwi (1320H) - He taught hadeeth for over 60 years and anyone related to the study of hadeeth in the India subcontinent was either his student or the student of his students - Nawaab Siddiq Hassan Khan Kanoojee (1307H), Imamul-Mufassireen Abul-Wafaa Thanaaullaah Amritsari (1367H), Abdullaah Rauparee (1384H), Moulana Muhammad Junaghadi (1360H), Ubaidullah Mubarakpuri, Abdur Rahman Mubarakpuri (1353H) the author of Tuhfatul Ahwazee the explanation of Sunan At-Tirmidhee, Shams ul-Haqq Azeemabadi - (author of Aun al-Mabood, the explanation of Sunan Abu Dawood), Muhammad Hussain Batalwee, Abdul-Azeez Rahimabadi (1320H), Moulana Ismaeel Salafi, Allama Muhammed Daood Ghaznawi, Moulana Muhammad Dawood Raaz, Shaikh Badee ud-Deen Shah Sindhi, Shaikh Muhammad Saadiq Sialkoti, Allama Ehsan Ilaahi Zaheer, and many others.