Alusi Misquoting Imam al-Munawi on Ibn Taymiyya
NU’MAN AL-ALUSI[1] AND HIS INTENTIONAL MISQUOTING OF IMAM AL-MUNAWI’S VERDICT ON IBN TAYMIYYA[2]
Praise be to Allah that is due from all grateful believers, a fullness of praise for all his favours: a praise that is abundantly sincere and blessed. May the blessings of Allah be upon our beloved Master Muhammad, the chosen one, the Apostle of mercy and the seal of all Prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all); and upon his descendants who are upright and pure: a blessing lasting to the Day of Judgment, like the blessing bestowed upon the Prophet Ibrahim (alaihis salam) and his descendants. May Allah be pleased with all of the Prophetic Companions (Ashab al-Kiram). Indeed, Allah is most worthy of praise and supreme glorification!
In the year 1881 CE, an Iraqi writer by the name of Nu’man Khayrud-Din al-Alusi published a work entitled, Jala al-Aynayn fi muhakamat al-Ahmadayn (Clearance of the two eyes in clearing the two Ahmads).[3] This work was ostensibly an apology for the controversial 8th century Hanbali, Ahmed ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH), from the stern lambasting of the later Shafi’i jurisprudent known as Ahmad ibn Hajar al-Haytami[4] (d. 974 AH) upon the status of Ibn Taymiyya.
The Jala al-Aynayn was patronised by the Indian Nawab of Bhopal, Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1889 CE) and it was published from Cairo. As for Nu’man al-Alusi and his personal creed, then there is little doubt that he was a follower of Ibn Taymiyya and his interpretation of what is the real Salafi creed. It is thus bizarre that an unknown anti-Ash’arite writer of this time could dare to claim that al-Alusi was a Hanafi-Maturidi! This is exemplified as follows by the unknown writer by stating:
“Abu al-Barakaat Nu’maan bin Mahmud al-Alusi (d. 1317H) was from those just and honest Hanafi Maturidis (who demonstrated this in his book Jalaa’ al-Aynayn Bi Muhaakamah al-Ahmadayn).”[5]
On the following authoritative blog on what the famous and reliable scholars of the past had to state on the status of Ibn Taymiyya, a short piece mentioning the verdict of a well known Shafi’i Muhaddith, Abdar Ra’uf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH) was posted on the 9th of February 2013:
Quote:
Imam al-Munawi on there being No Disagreement on ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya being Innovators
Imam ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi (D. 1031AH) on there being no disagreement that ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya are innovators and refuting some of their incorrect beliefs:
QUOTE Article –
Changing Views of ibn Taymiyya by Khaled el-Rouayheb
For example, the Egyptian Shafi’i scholar and mystic ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi (d. 1622), in his commentary on al-Tirmidhi’s Shama’il, cited ibn Hajar’s condemnation of ibn Taymiyya’s suggestion that the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) had let down a part of his turban to mark the spot between his shoulders that God had touched with His hand. Though al-Munawi’s overall assessment of ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya was anything but positive, he did not believe that this particular proposition of theirs was beyond the pale:
“I say: As to them (ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya) being reprehensible innovators, there is no disagreement (amma kawnuhuma min al-mubtadi’a fa-musallam). As to this particular claim being based on corporealism, this is not correct. First, because they said that the mentioned seeing was during sleep… Second, because (they also said:) we believe that He has a hand unlike the created being, and hence there is nothing to prevent placing It in a manner that does not resemble the placing of a created being.”[1]
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[1] -’Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi, Sharh al-Shama-il (MS British Library; Or. 12522), fol. 148a. The passage is quoted in al-Alusi, Jala al-Aynayn, 569, though al-Alusi left out the first sentence in which al-Munawi agreed that ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya were innovators (Mubtadi’a). The British Library manuscript from which I have quoted was written in 999/1590-1, 32 years before the death of al-Munawi, and may be an autograph.END QUOTE
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[1] He was born in 1252 AH and died in 1317 AH/1899 CE [2] This piece will also address the obfuscating shenanigans of a notoriously abusive anti-Ash’arite known as Ali Rida Qadri [3] This is how Basheer M. Nafi translated the title in his: Salafism Revived: Nu’mān al-Alūsī and the Trial of Two Ahmads (Die Welt des Islams, Volume 49, Number 1, 2009, pp. 49-97)[4] See here for a few quotations from Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami – http://taymiyyun.wordpress.com/?s=haytami [5] See the bogus research presented here – http://www.asharis.com/creed/articles/mbeif-muhammad-anwar-shah-al-kashmiri-al-deobandi-al-maturidi-on-ibn-taymiyyah-and-the-sifat-filiyyah-part-2.cfm
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