The Myth of Ibn Taymiyyah: Between the Man's Deviation and the Extinction of His Legacy The figure of Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) has always represented a historical and scholarly dilemma in Islamic heritage. While he was considered a Hanbali scholar with knowledge in philosophy and the Islamic sciences, his biography tells a different story: a story of deviation from the consensus of scholars, repeated trials, imprisonment ending in his death within prison walls, and a judicial order to burn his books and ban the teaching of his opinions. But more important than the fate of the man is the fate of his legacy, which met its end upon his death, not due to the persecution of his opponents, but because of the abandonment by those closest to him: his own students. The Deviant Man: The Unforgivable Transgression All who wrote about Ibn Taymiyyah acknowledged his vast knowledge, but they also unanimously acknowledged something else: his deviation. His disagreements were not on minor or permissible issues of scholarly interpretation, but on fundamental principles of creed, jurisprudence, usul al-fiqh, and even history. These fundamental deviations were something the scholars of his time could not overlook. The result was a collective ruling to condemn him, imprison him multiple times, and ban him from issuing fatwas and teaching, ending with him dying in his prison. This was not a verdict from a tyrannical political authority, but a collective scholarly decision from the judges and scholars of his era, who issued the harshest judgment on his legacy: Burning. Voluntary Extinction: Students Who Demolished What Their Master Built The pivotal moment in the story of the extinction of Ibn Taymiyyah's legacy was not his death, but the decision of his students. After his death, in a rare scene in the scholarly history of Islam, almost all of his students renounced his opinions and deviations. This was not merely passive abandonment; some of them turned into active opponents, authoring books to refute him, while others were content with silent withdrawal, retaining their respect for him as a teacher, but rejecting his thought. Thus, the main nerve for transmitting a scholarly legacy—the transmitting student—was severed. The Rigorous System: How Knowledge Was Inherited and How It Was Cut Off from Ibn Taymiyyah The scholars of Islam established a precise, stringent system for transmitting knowledge, resembling a solid chain that guarantees the purity and authenticity of knowledge. This system was built on four non-negotiable stages: 1. Consultation Before Authorship: A scholar would not begin writing a book until he consulted his teachers and peers. 2. Presentation and Approval: After completing the work, the author would present it to the scholars in special sessions. If it met with acceptance, permission was granted to copyists to copy and circulate the new book. 3. Instruction and Authorization (Ijazah): The author would read his book to his students, explain its ambiguities, correct their copies, and then grant them the authorization to narrate and teach it. 4. Inheritance Through the Chain (Isnad): The students would transmit the book in the same manner to their own students, thus continuing the living chain of transmission from the author until the end of time. Any book that falls outside this circle, any book that is not narrated through a connected chain back to its author, is considered in the view of the Islamic scholarly system as merely a "book for reading." It is not permissible to use it as evidence, nor to build knowledge upon it, because its attribution to its author is unconfirmed, and because understanding its original intent becomes a matter of conjecture and potential misinterpretation. The Archeological Books: The Illusion of Continuity and the Breach of System All of Ibn Taymiyyah's books fall under this judgment. His works have no chain of transmission; there is not a single paper in the world that a scholar narrates with a connected chain back to him. Let us take two fundamental examples: · "The Egyptian Fatwas": This book appeared suddenly only one century ago, more than five centuries after Ibn Taymiyyah's death! It was brought out from the Al-Azhar library by a man known for his Bahai faith, Faraj Allah al-Kurdi. By what right is this book attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah, and by what chain is it relied upon? · "The Collection of Fatwas": This book, which is widely circulated today, is the work of Abd al-Rahman ibn Qasim (d. 1392 AH), meaning there are six centuries of disconnection between him and Ibn Taymiyyah! What is more astonishing is that Ibn Qasim himself admitted that he compiled it from scattered manuscripts found in disparate libraries between Damascus (al-Zahiriyya Library), Cairo (Al-Azhar), and Paris. He was merely a collector of dead manuscripts, not a transmitter of a living legacy. He did not read them to anyone, nor did he receive them with a chain; he merely gathered them like one collects ancient artifacts. Conclusion: Putting the Illusion on Trial with Logic The scholars of Islam have repeatedly challenged those who call themselves the followers of Ibn Taymiyyah in this era to produce a single paper with a connected chain for any of his books back to the author. They have not responded except with evasion, insults, and accusations of polytheism and innovation against their opponents. So here we have a group of people constructing a new religion, fighting the Muslim community under various labels, all based on "pages" for which there is no way to confirm their attribution to their alleged author, and no way to understand their intended meaning correctly. They are trying to revive an intellectual corpse that history has judged to be extinct, by the will of the scholars of the era, and by the decision of the man's own students. Ibn Taymiyyah became extinct, and the natural, logical extinction of his legacy was the second part of that myth which must come to an end. Professor.ABDULLAH AL TAMIMI Generations and Technology University