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Ibn Taymiyyah Agianst Christianity

SomaliNet Forum (Archive): General Discusions: Archive (Before Feb. 16, 2001): Ibn Taymiyyah Agianst Christianity
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Durgal

Friday, January 26, 2001 - 06:02 pm
This is the second and the last discussion and the readings of the great Muslim scholar Taqi Din Ibn Taymiyyah.

Islamic religion is not only the most consistent religion in the universe, but it is also the simplest and the most comprehensive religion. To prove this claim, one needs to look no further than the conpcept of Iman. According to one of the Hadiths, prophet Muhammmed (SCW)was approached by an strenger who asked him series of questions, including what Iman is. The prophet replied. " is to believe in Allah, his books, his messengers, the day of the judgement, and to believe in its good and its evil." By this declaration Muslims are required to believe in all of the prophets and books of Allah. To an outsider this may seem rather simple and plain acceptence, but there is a logical consistency HERE, and that is since all messages and prophets came from the same source, Allah, they must be both consistent,and reinforcing one another. In addition they must be believed in all of its uncorrupted froms. In other words Allah's commands and prohibitions from Adam to Muhammed must be be accepted.

The Fundemental problem of non-Muslim religions, including Christianity and Judeasim stems from the failure to conceptualize what Iman means. And Instead of critically examining the similarities they have in common with Islam, and grasping the significance the shared ground by using it as correctional tool, Christians chose not only to perfect their version of popular religion, but they also engaged in an active polemical campaign agianst Islam. Hippolyte Tain's qoute " Nothing presents less of an obstacle than the perfecting of the imaginary" would do justice in capturing this contradiction.

Ironically however, a letter containing one of these polemical attacks was sent to Ibn Taymiyyah, one of the greatest polemicist of Islam. Ibn Taymiyyah recalls the arrival of the letter " A letter arrived from Cyprus in which there is an argument for the religion of Christians. In it the scholars of their religion as well as the eminant persons of their Church, ancient and modern, plead their case with religious and intellectaul argument...we have found them making use of this treatise before now. Their scholars handed it down among themselves and old copies of that it still exist." Ibn taymiyyah qoute indicates the nature of the letter. A carefully constructed work which was widely circulated among prominent Christians. In addition Ibn taymiyyah's version was far more superior than the original work, Poul Antioch, the monk, bishop of Sised. It was imporvised to the point where it relies more on Qur'anic verses than any other sources.

In summarry, Paul Antioch did not deny the prophethood of Muhammed (SCW) but rather he confined his mission to Arab Jahhiliya, which is basically denying the universality of the prophet's mission Antoich letter contained six main claims:

1. It claims that prophet Muhammed was not sent to Christians rather he was sent to Arab Jahiliyyah, In support of their argument they employ some Qur'anic verses.
2. It claims that the prophet himself highly priased the religion they adhere to , and it is this priase that obligates them to cling to theirs.
3. It claims that the messages of the preceeding religions confirm what they hold in regard to Trinity,etc.
4. It claims their understanding of the concept of Trinity(the father, the son, and the holy ghost) is supported by both rational argumentationas well as revealed knowledge.
5. They claim that Christians believe one God even though how they express it is liable to confusion.
6. They claim that Christ brought the final perfecttion, thus, there is no need of more laws.

In response to Paul Antioch's 25 page printed letter, Ibn taymiyyah prepared 1400 pages of carefully constructed response entitled AL JAWAB AL SAHIH LIMAN BADALA DIN AL MASIH[ The correct response to those who changed the religion of Christ.] As writer Ibn Taymiyyah was a born critic who consistently employed set of arguments which was intended to bring about a cumulative and corroborative effect. Wael Hallaq, a modern student of Ibn Taymiyyah works describes Taymiyyan Methodology as " The first catogery that makes itself evident in Ibn Taymiyyah work is the substantive argument , since the critique itself is substantive one: it attacks statements and assumptions as proposions containing concrete ideas. The attacks themselves consist of counter ideas of the same order."

Ibn Taymiyyah proceeded his task with confidence, he notes " We will show,to God be praise and strength, that the all which they adduce as religious argument, whether from the Qur'an or from the books preceding the Qur'an as well as reason itself is an argument, not for them, but against them." The first claim that Muhammed was sent not to them, but to the Arab Jahiliyya, Ibn Taymiyyah counter argued that above statement can only have two meanings. Either they hold that he was not sent to them and his followers amde up, or he claimed he was sent to them but lied. Ibn Taymiyyah's Taymiyyah concern here is the first statement, since Paul Antioch did not deny the prophethood of Muhammed. Next he presented sets of arguments, each one having its own weight, but was intended to have an aggregate effect.
A. He demonstrated how prophet Muhammed himself saw his mission as universal, by bringing up Qur'anic verses as well as Hadith reports which conform both Muhammeds's claim and in return the authenticity of these sources.
B. He used historical evidence both the prophet's treatment of Jewish tribes in Medinah as well as the letters that he sent to various kings amd rulers in which he presented himself as universal prophet.
C. He employed Islamic legal reasoning in rejecting the interpretation of the verses(2:151, 3:164, 9:128) which Paul Antioch used to support his position. Ibn Taymiyyah argued that Specifying statement is not contradictory to general of universal statement, unless it expressly denied that statement In short no where in the Qur'an where mentioned that prophet Muhammed was sent ONLY to Arabs.
D. He then showed how these verses themselves were taken out context, and how they fit with early assignment of the prophet,he adds that verses does not contradict when the prophet's mission was expanded in later years of his mission. To further strength this argument, Ibn Taymiyyah compared prophets situation in these verses to that of Christ who initially percieved his mission as local, but latter expanded it to include everyone.
E. Finally, Ibn Taymiyyah turned around Paul Antioch Arguments, and charges him with incoherence. He states that if the Qur'an has some verses which specify prophet's mission and other which show the universal nature of his mission then this would constitute a clear contradiction, which prevents one not only from using the Qur'an as an evidence, but since the qur'an himself is contradiction it also implies that Muhammed himself was not a prophet which in turn contradicts the their assertion of Muhammed being a prophet.

Ibn Taymiyyah evaluated all the rest of the arguments, and treated each one as he treated the first one. The final 400 pages of the books Ibn Taymiyyah devotes it to the prophethood of Muhammed.

If you have developed an interest in these debates or this particular work you should read the whole book "Al Jawab Sahih" or its English version Muslim theologian's response to Christianity by Thomas Michel.

Untill then I would like to conclude with the above author's remark in Jawaab al Sahih
" The use of Muslim controversialist of a prominant Christian theologian to present Christian history in own terms, and refute positions he considered heretical is to my knowledge unprecedented in the history of Islamic polemic on Christianity. Ibn Taymiyyah had unique statement to make and was flexible in employing what he he deemed suitable."

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muhsin

Friday, January 26, 2001 - 06:21 pm
Jazaaka allah yaa akhi

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Durgal

Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 05:21 pm
Muhsin, my intention in both these articles was to present the lost heretige of Islam, particularly, Ibn Taymiyyah. As political science student I have noticed Ibn taymiyyah remarkable effort in defending the common good,and the interest of society. Ibn Taymiyyah works was not benefited by Muslims but the West. His vast contributions, include in natural science; imprecism, In Economics; the theory of Money and the relationship between supply and demand of money. In political science, the theory Civil Society which attributed to German social scientist, but actually is the same as Ibn Taymiyyah's UMMA WASSAATA or MIDDLE COMMUNITY. Had muslims taken Ibn Taymiyyah imprecism to its logical conclusion the world might have been different today. The lesson for us, the new somali generation is to rediscover that broken link and while at the same time molding this material civilization into our own advantage.

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