Ibn Qudama (January/February 11477 July 1223) was an ulama, muhaddith, and aqidah of the Hanbali of Sunni Islam. Born in the Palestine region, Ibn Qudama authored many important treatises on fiqh and religious doctrine, including one of the standard works of Hanbali law, the revered al-Mughni.
Ibn Qudama is highly regarded in Sunni Islam for being one of the most notable and influential thinkers of the Hanbali maddhab of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence.[Ibn Qudamah, Lam'ah al-I'tiqad, trans. G. F. Haddad]
Life
Ibn Qudama was born in Palestine in
Jammain,
a town near
Jerusalem (
Bayt al-Maqdīs in the Arabic vernacular, whence his extended name), in 1147
during the
Crusades to the revered Hanbali preacher and mystic Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Qudāma (d. 1162), "a man known for his asceticism" and in whose honor "a mosque was later built in Damascus."
[Nuʿaymī, Dāris, ii, 354] Having received the first phase of his education in
Damascus,
where he studied the
Quran and the
hadith extensively,
Ibn Qudama made his first trip to
Baghdad in 1166,
in order to study law and
Sufi mysticism under the tutelage of the renowned Hanbali mystic and jurist Abdul-Qadir Gilani (d. ca. 1167),
who would go on to become one of the most widely venerated saints in all of Sunni Islam.
Although Ibn Qudama's "discipleship was cut short by the latter’s death ... the experience of ... had its influence on the young" scholar,
"who was to reserve a special place in his heart for mystics and mysticism" for the rest of his life.
Ibn Qudama's first stay in Baghdad lasted four years, during which time he is also said to have written an important work criticizing what he deemed to be the excessive rationalism of Ibn Aqil (d. 1119), entitled Taḥrīm al-naẓar fī kutub ahl al-kalām ( The Censure of Rationalistic Theology).[Asma Sayeed, Women and Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 170] In turn, all these various teachers gave Ibn Qudama the permission to begin teaching the principles of hadith to his own students, including important female disciples such as Zaynab bint al-Wāsiṭī (d. ca. 1240).
Views
God
In
aqida, Ibn Qudama was one of the primary proponents of the
Athari school of Sunni theology,
[Muwaffaq al-Dīn Ibn Qudāma al-Maqdisi, Ta!hrīm al-na)zar fī kutub al-kalām, ed. Abd al-Ra!hmān b. Mu!hammad Saīd Dimashqiyya (Riyadh: Dār ālam al-kutub, 1990); translated into English by George Makdisi, Ibn Qudāma’s Censure of Speculative Theology (London: Luzac, 1962)] which held that overt theological speculation was spiritually detrimental and supported drawing theology exclusively from the two sources of the
Quran and the
hadith.
Regarding theology, Ibn Qudama famously said: "We have no need to know the meaning of what God—Exalted is He—intended by His attributes—He is Great and Almighty. No deed is intended by them. No obligation is linked to them except belief in them. Belief in them is possible without knowing their meaning."
[Jon Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 53] According to one scholar, it is evident that Ibn Qudama "completely opposed discussion of theological matters and permitted no more than repeating what was said about God in the data of revelation."
[Jon Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 19] In other words, Ibn Qudama rejected "any attempt to link God’s attributes to the referential world of ordinary human language,"
which has led some scholars to describe Ibn Qudama's theology as "unreflective traditionalism,"
[Jon Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 236] that is to say, as a theological point of view which purposefully avoided any type of speculation or reflection upon the nature of God.
Ibn Qudama's attitude towards theology was challenged by certain later Hanbali thinkers like
Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328), who broke with this type of "unreflective traditionalism" in order to engage "in bold interpretations of the meanings of God’s attributes."
Heresy
Ibn Qudama seems to have been a formidable opponent of
heresy in Islamic practice, as is evidenced by his famous words: "There is nothing outside of
Paradise but hell-fire; there is nothing outside of the truth but error; there is nothing outside of the
Sunnah but heretical innovation."
[John B. Henderson, The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy (New York: SUNY Press, 1998), epilogue]
Intercession
Ibn Qudama appears to have been a supporter of seeking the intercession of
Muhammad in
dua, for he approvingly cites the famous prayer attributed to a hadith, cited among others by
Ibn Hanbal (d. 855): "O God! I am turning to Thee with Thy Prophet, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad! I am turning with you to my Lord for the fulfillment of my need."
[Gibril F. Haddad, The Four Imams and Their Schools (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 322 trans.][Ibn Quduma, Wasiyya al-Muwaffaq Ibn Quduma al-Maqdisi, p. 93] Ibn Qudama also relates that which al-’Utbiyy narrated concerning one's
Ziyarat to the grave of Muhammad in
Medina:
I was sitting by the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, when a bedouin man a‘rābī entered and said, “Peace be upon you, oh Messenger of God. I have heard God say in, ‘Had they come to you the after having done injustice to themselves sinned and asked God for forgiveness and additionally the Messenger asked for forgiveness on their behalf, they would have found God to be oft-turning in and merciful.’[Qur'an, 4:64] And I have come to you seeking forgiveness for my sins, and seeking your intercession near God.” He the then said the following poem:
O he who is the greatest of those buried in the grandest land,
Of those whose scent has made the valley and hills fragrant,
May my life be sacrificed for the grave that is your abode,
Where chastity, generosity and nobility reside!
Al-’Utbiyy then narrates that he fell asleep and saw the Prophet in a dream and was informed that the bedouin man had indeed been forgiven.[Ibn Qudāmah, Abū Muḥammad, Al-Mughnī, (Beirut: Bayt al-Afkār al-Dawliyyah, 2004), p 795.]
After quoting the above event, Ibn Qudama explicitly recommends that Muslims should use the above prayer when visiting the Prophet.
He thus approves of asking the Prophet for his intercession even after his earthly death.
Mysticism
As is attested to by numerous sources, Ibn Qudama was a devoted mystic and ascetic of the
Qadiriyya order of
Sufism,
and reserved "a special place in his heart for mystics and mysticism" for the entirety of his life.
Having inherited the "spiritual mantle" (
k̲h̲irqa) of Abdul-Qadir Gilani prior to the renowned spiritual master's death, Ibn Qudama was formally invested with the authority to initiate his own disciples into the
Qadiriyya.
Ibn Qudama later passed on the initiatic mantle to his cousin Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid (d. 1217), another important
Hanbali jurist, who became one of the primary Qadiriyya spiritual masters of the succeeding generation.
According to some classical Sufi chains, another one of Ibn Qudama's major disciples was his nephew Ibn Abī ʿUmar Qudāma (d. 1283), who later bestowed the
k̲h̲irqa upon
Ibn Taymiyyah, who, as many recent academic studies have shown, actually appears to have been a devoted follower of the Qadiriyya Sufi order in his own right, despite his criticisms of several of the most widespread, orthodox Sufi practices of his day and, in particular, of the philosophical influence of the
Akbariyya school of
Ibn Arabi.
[Makdisi, 'Ibn Taymiya: a Sufi of the Qadiriya order', American Journal of Arabic Studies 1, part 1 (1973), pp 118-28] Due to Ibn Qudama's public support for the necessity of Sufism in orthodox Islamic practice, he gained a reputation for being one of "the eminent Sufis" of his era.
[Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī, al-Ta‘līq ‘alā al-Anājīl al-arba‘a wa-al-ta‘līq ‘alā al-Tawrāh wa-‘alā ghayrihā min kutub al-anbiyā’, 383, tr. L. Demiri, Muslim Exegesis of the Bible in Medieval Cairo, p. 16]
Relics
Ibn Qudama supported using the relics of Muhammad for the deriving of
barakah,
[Gibril F. Haddad, The Four Imams and Their Schools (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 322] as is evident from his approved citing, in
al-Mug̲h̲nī 5:468, of the case of Abdullah ibn Umar (d. 693), whom he records as having placed "his hand on the seat of the Prophet's
minbar ... and then having wipe his face with it."
This view was not novel or even unusual in any sense,
as Ibn Qudama would have found established support for the use of relics in the
Quran,
hadith, and in Ibn Hanbal's well-documented love for the veneration of Muhammad's relics.
Saints
Ibn Qudama staunchly criticized all who questioned or rejected the existence of
wali, the veneration of whom had become an integral part of Sunni piety by the time period
[Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Sufism: The Formative Period (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), pp. 131-132] and which he "roundly endorsed."
[Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Sufism: The Formative Period (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), p. 132] As scholars have noted, Hanbali authors of the period were "united in their affirmation of sainthood and saintly miracles,"
and Ibn Qudama was no exception.
Thus, Ibn Qudama vehemently criticized what he perceived to be the rationalizing tendencies of Ibn Aqil for his attack against the veneration of saints, saying: "As for the
Sunni Islam who follow the traditions and pursue the path of the righteous ancestors, no imperfection taints them, not does any disgrace occur to them. Among them are the learned who practise their knowledge, the saints and the righteous men, the God-fearing and pious, the pure and the good, those who have attained the state of sainthood and the performance of miracles, and those who worship in humility and exert themselves in the study of religious law. It is with their praise that books and registers are adorned. Their annals embellish the congregations and assemblies. Hearts become alive at the mention of their life histories, and happiness ensues from following their footsteps. They are supported by religion; and religion is by them endorsed. Of them the Quran speaks; and the Quran they themselves express. And they are a refuge to men when events afflict them: for kings, and others of lesser rank, seek their visits, regarding their supplications to God as a means of obtaining blessings, and asking them to intercede for them with God."
Works
-
Lum’ah al-I’tiqad ( The Illuminating Creed )
-
al-Mughnī ( The Enricher )
-
Kitāb ut-Tawwābīn
-
Ithbāt Sifat il-`Uluww
-
Dhamm ut-Ta'wīl
-
Al-Burhān Fī Bayan Al-Qurʿān
-
Al-ʿUmdah (“the support”), a beginner's guide to Ḥanbalī Fiqh. A number of commentaries have been written on this including "Sharh Al-`Umdah" of Ibn Taymiyyah.
-
Al-Muqniʿ Fi Fiqh Al-Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal Ash-Shaybānī
-
" Kitāb Al-Hādī " or " Umdatul-Hazim fi-l Masail al-Zawa-id 'An Mukhtasar Abi-l Qasim "
-
Al-Kaafi
-
Rawḍat al-Nāẓir, a book on the Usul al-Fiqh significantly influenced by Al-Ghazali's work, Al-mustasfa.
-
Al-Waşiyyah (The Advice)
-
Ar-Riqqatu wal-Bukāe (sensibility and tears)
Notes
Further reading
-
H. Laoust, Le Précis de Droit d’Ibn Qudāma, Beirut 1950
-
idem., "Le Ḥanbalisme sous le califat de Baghdad," in REI, xxvii (1959), 125-6
-
G. Makdisi, Kitāb at-Tauwābīn “Le Livre des Pénitents” de Muwaffaq ad-Dīn Ibn Qudāma al-Maqdisī, Damascus 1961
-
idem., Ibn Qudāma’s censure of speculative theology, London 1962
External links
