In Defence of the Four Imams - Claritas Books

In Defence of the Four Imams

Ibn Taymiyah

Paperback

164 pages / Published: 2018

£7.00

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In this unique work of Ibn Taymiyah, his primary aim is to present cogent answers to the following questions as he displays humble deference towards his predecessors:

■ Why did the distinguished jurists, notably the Four Imams of early Muslim history, differ?

■ Why do some of their views apparently contradict authentic scriptural texts?

■ Why do their followers seem to prefer their opinions, even when they outwardly contradict sound prophetic traditions?

He begins his work by outlining three explanations as to why the eponymous four Imams sometimes contravened the import of sound prophetic traditions. He then proceeds to explicate ten things prompting them to adopt one of the three aforementioned explanations.

Name

Ibn Taymiyah

Country

Syria

Biography

Ibn Taymiyah was born in Harran in the year 661 AH, and his father and family relocated to Damascus in his youth. In Damascus he embarked upon his formal studies with a number of the major scholars of the city and excelled in hadith, fiqh, tafsir, and other sciences. He was known to be a major depository of knowledge until it was said of him that he had greater mastery of the various legal schools than even their exponents among his contemporaries. He was reverentially referred to as “Shaykh al-Islam” by those who respected him. And, the great Shafi’i contemporary Ibn al-Zamlakani reportedly said of him, “The conditions of juristic independence (ijtihad) were brought together in their appropriate fashion with respect to him.” But, like so many others before him, Ibn Taymiyah was tested by both the limitations of his knowledge and the jealousy of some of his peers. Consequently, much of his life was spent imprisoned in the Damascus citadel due to being perceived as a threat to Islamic orthodoxy and public order. A number of scholars deemed him an ideological threat and succeeded in convincing the governors that his detention would best serve society. It would seem, judging by the massive numbers of those reported to have attended his funeral (an excess of between 65,000 to 200,000 persons), that the attempts to silence him and limit his influence failed.

Other titles

Title

In Defence of the Four Imams

Format(s)

Paperback

Edition

1st

Pages

164

ISBN

9781905837632

Dimensions

140 x 215 x 15 mm - 240g

Reviews:
The Glory of Iqbal 1877-1938

"It is extensively researched and footnoted"

2019-06-27 04:10:23

It is extensively researched and footnoted, beautifully written, and adequately angsty, given the agonizing contours of the topic. The eminent author has an extensive record of scholarship and is an enlightened Muslim. I have met him several times and looking forward to more gems from Shaykh bin Ali.

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" Finally I recommend all my Salafi brothers and sisters"

2019-06-21 04:09:30

This is a “Must Read”, yet I could not settle on whether to rate this book a 1 or a 5, so after much handwringing I went with 4, with the caveat that quantitative book ratings are silly. Allah swt knows best. Finally I recommend all my Salafi brothers and sisters to read this book.

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"Understand Islamic issues"

2019-06-15 04:07:44

For many in our modern times, Ibn Taymiyah is a major reference point for knowledge and how to understand Islamic issues. This book is particularly important because of those many who have a liking to his views, you will find them adopting minority and sometimes strange views on certain Islamic issues based on his views, and there has been a movement in modern times to abandon the schools of the 4 Imams, dismissing them as just their opinions as opposed to the codified schools of thought that they have proven to be throughout the ages, based on the knowledge and experts of those said Imams. Ibn Taymiyah goes to great lengths to defend them in this work, and there is a very beneficial bonus in the appendix by the translator, Ustadh Abdullah Bin Hamid Ali, which presents a very academic presentation and clarification of how to understand the approach of the 4 Imams, and it becomes abundantly clear as to why their schools have represented the majority of the Muslim world.

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