Misplaced Pages

Ibn al-Jawzi: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 14:40, 30 October 2015 editRookTaker (talk | contribs)1,456 edits →Theology: Added sourced info← Previous edit Latest revision as of 10:40, 22 January 2025 edit undoTheEagle107 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users5,359 edits Reverting vandalism.Tag: Manual revert 
(433 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Muslim preacher and scholar (c. 1116–1201)}}
{{Other people|Abu al-Faraj}}
{{other uses}}
{{multiple issues|
{{Infobox saint
{{prose|date=July 2013}}
|name = '''Ibn al-Jawzi'''
{{Cleanup|date=September 2010}}}}
|image =PARSONS(1808) p008 View of Bagdad on the Persian side of the Tigris.jpg
|image_size = 300px
|caption = A depiction of Baghdad from 1808, taken from the print collection in ''Travels in Asia and Africa, etc.'' (ed. ], British Library); Ibn al-Jawzī spent his entire life in this city in the twelfth-century.
|titles = Jurisconsult, Preacher, Traditionist;<br />''Shaykh of Islam'', ''Orator of Kings and Princes'', ''Imam of the Hanbalites''
|feast_day =
|beatified_date =
|beatified_place =
|beatified_by =
|canonized_date =
|canonized_place =
|canonized_by =
|major_shrine = Green Cement Tomb at ], ]
|attributes =
|patronage =
|issues =
|suppressed_date =
|influences =
|tradition =
|venerated_in = ], but particularly in the ] ]
}}


{{Infobox Muslim scholar {{Infobox religious biography
| religion = ]
| era = ]
| image =
| caption =
| name = Ibn al-Jawzi
| title = ]<ref>Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'.</ref>
| birth_date = c. 510 AH/1116 CE
| birth_place = ], Abbasid Caliphate, now ]
| death_date = 12 Ramadan 597 AH/16 June 1201 (aged approximately 84)
| death_place = ], Abbasid Caliphate, now ]
| denomination = ]
| creed = ]<ref>{{cite book|author=]|title=The Cambridge History of Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16yHq5v3QZAC|volume=5 of The Saljuq and Mongol Periods|publisher=]|date=1968|page=299|isbn=9780521069366|quote="''Talbis Iblis'', by the Ash'ari theologian Ibn al-Jawzi, contains strong attacks on the Sufis, though the author makes a distinction between an older purer Sufism and the "modern" one,"}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=]|title=The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams & Hadith Masters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwPnCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA226|date=2015|publisher=]|page=226|quote=Abu al-Faraj bin al-Jawzi al-Qurashi ] ] al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali ] (509/510-597AH).}}</ref><ref name="Ibn al-Ahdal">{{cite book|author=]|editor=Ahmad Bakīr Mahmud|url=https://archive.org/download/kalam-misc/kashful-ghitaa.pdf|title=Kashf al-Ghata' 'an Haqa'iq al-Tawhid|script-title=ar:كشف الغطاء عن حقائق التوحيد|language=ar|location=]|publisher=]|year=1964|page=83|quote=وكل هؤلاء الذين ذكرنا عقائدهم من أئمة الشافعية سوى القرشي والشاذلي فمالكيان أشعريان. ولنتبع ذلك بعقيدة المالكية وعقيدتين للحنفية ليعلم أن غالب أهل هذين المذهبين على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد، '''وبعض الحنبلية في الفروع يكونون على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد كالشيخ عبد القادر الجيلاني وابن الجوزي وغيرهما رضي الله عنهم.''' وقد تقدم وسيأتي أيضاً أن الأشعري والإمام أحمد كانا في الاعتقاد متفقين حتى حدث الخلاف من أتباعه القائلين بالحرف والصوت والجهة وغير ذلك فلهذا لم نذكر عقائد المخالفين واقتصرنا على عقائد أصحابنا الأشعرية ومن وافقهم من المالكية والحنفية رضي الله عنهم. فأما عقيدة المالكية فهي تأليف الشيخ الإمام الكبير الشهير أبي محمد عبد الله بن أبي زيد المالكي ذكرها في صدر كتابه الرسالة}}</ref>
| jurisprudence = ]
| region =
| main_interests = ], ], ], ]
| notable_ideas =
| works = ]
| influences =
| influenced = <small>], d 600 AH<ref name="sahwah" /><br />], d 654 AH<ref name="Robinson:2003:XV">Robinson:2003:XV</ref><br /> ]<ref name="sahwah" /><br />]<ref name="Ibn Al-Jawzi">{{cite web |url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ibn_aljawzi.htm |title=Ibn Al-Jawzi |publisher=Sunnah.org |access-date=2013-11-28 |archive-date=2020-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222230613/http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ibn_aljawzi.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref></small>
}}


'''Abū al-Farash ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jawzī''',<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> often referred to as '''Ibn al-Jawzī''' ({{langx|ar|ابن الجوزي}}; c. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, was a ] ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> who played an instrumental role in propagating the ] ] in his native ] during the twelfth-century.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> During "a life of great intellectual, religious and political activity,"<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> Ibn al-Jawzi came to be widely admired by his fellow ]s for the tireless role he played in ensuring that that particular school – historically, the smallest of the ] – enjoy the same level of "prestige" often bestowed by rulers on the ], ], and ] ]s.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/>
| notability = ] ]
| era = ]


Ibn al-Jawzi received a "very thorough education"<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> during his adolescent years, and was fortunate to train under some of that era's most renowned Baghdadi scholars, including Ibn al-Zāg̲h̲ūnī (d. 1133), Abū Bakr al-Dīnawarī (d. 1137–8), Sayyid Razzāq Alī Jīlānī (d. 1208), and Abū Manṣūr al-Jawālīkī (d. 1144–5).<ref name="Ibn Rajab 1953">Ibn Rajab, ''Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila'', Cairo 1372/1953, i, 401</ref> Although Ibn al-Jawzi's scholarly career continued to blossom over the next few years, he became most famous during the reign of ] (d. 1180), the thirty-third ] ], whose support for Hanbalism allowed Ibn al-Jawzi to effectively become "one of the most influential persons" in Baghdad, due to the caliph's approval of Ibn al-Jawzi's public sermonizing to huge crowds in both pastoral and urban areas throughout Baghdad.<ref name="Ibn Rajab 404-405"/> In the vast majority of the public sermons delivered during al-Mustadi's reign, Ibn al-Jawzi often presented a stanch defense of the ], and vigorously criticized all those whom he considered to be ]atics in the faith.<ref name="Ibn Rajab 404-405"/> At the same time, Ibn al-Jawzi's reputation as a scholar continued to grow due to the substantial role he played in managing many of the most important ] in the area,<ref name="Ibn Rajab 404-405"/> as well as on account of the sheer number of works he wrote during this period.<ref name="Ibn Rajab 404-405"/> As regards the latter point, part of Ibn al-Jawzi's legacy rests on his reputation for having been "one of the most prolific writers" of all time.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> As scholars have noted, Ibn al-Jawzi's prodigious corpus, "varying in length" as it does,<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> touches upon virtually "all the great disciplines" of classical Islamic study.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/>
| image =
| caption =


==Life==
| name = Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn Muhammad
Ibn al-Jawzi was born between 507 and 12 H./1113-19 CE to a "fairly wealthy family"<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> in ], which "descended from ]",<ref>Ibn al-Jawzi, ''Sincere Counsel to the Seekers of Sacred Knowledge'', Daar Us-Sunnah Publications Birmingham (2011), p. 88</ref><ref>Ibn Rajab, ''Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila'', Cairo 1372/1953, i, 399–434;Merlin Swartz, ''Ibn al-Jawzī’s'' Kitāb al-Quṣṣāṣ wa-’l-mudhakkirīn, Recherches publiées sous la direction de l’Institut de lettres orientales de Beyrouth, Série 1, Pensée arabe et musulmane, 47 (Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, 1971), 15.</ref> His parents proceeded to give their son a "thorough education"<ref name="ReferenceC">{{EI2|last=Laoust |first=H. | title=Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī | volume = 3 | pages = 751–752 | doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3139}}</ref> in all the principal disciplines of the period,<ref name="ReferenceC"/> whence Ibn al-Jawzi had the good fortune of studying under such notable scholars of the time as Ibn al-Zāghūnī (d. 1133), Abū Bakr al-Dīnawarī (d. 1137–8), Shaiykh Saiyed Razzaq Ali Gilani (d. 1208), Abū Manṣūr al-Jawālīkī (d. 1144–5), Abu 'l-Faḍl b. al-Nāṣir (d. 1155), Abū Ḥakīm al-Nahrawānī (d. 1161) and Abū Yaʿlā the Younger (d. 1163).<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref name="Ibn Rajab 1953"/> Additionally, Ibn al-Jawzi began to be heavily influenced by the works of other scholars he read but whom he had never met personally, such as ] (d. 1038), a ] ] ], ] (d. 1071), a ] who had changed to ]sm, and the prominent Hanbali thinker ] (d. ca. 1120), whom Ibn al-Jawzi would both praise and criticize in his later writings.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> He was an adherent of the ] school of dialectical theology, an aspect of his thought that would later distinguish him from many of his fellow Hanbali thinkers,<ref name="Boyle 299">{{cite book|last=Boyle|first=J.A.|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods (Volume 5)|date=January 1, 1968|quote="''Talbis Iblis'', by the Ash'ari theologian Ibn al-Jawzi, contains strong attacks on the Sufis, though the author makes a distinction between an older purer Sufism and the "modern" one,"|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=299}}</ref> In his early works he criticized speculation in ], in particular modernizing trends among the Sufis.<ref name="Boyle 299"/>
| title= Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi
| birth_date = 1116 AD/510 AH
| death_date = 14 ], 1201/ 12 ], 597 AH- ], ] (aged 87)
{{AH|597}}<ref name="Robinson:2003:XV">Robinson:2003:XV</ref>
| Maddhab = ]<ref name="sahwah"/>
| school_tradition
| creed = ]<ref>{{cite book|last=Boyle|first=J.A.|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods (Volume 5)|date=January 1, 1968|quote="''Talbis Iblis'', by the Ash'ari theologian Ibn al-Jauzi, contains strong attacks on the Sufis, though the author makes a distinction between an older purer Sufism and the "modern" one,"|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=299}}</ref>
|=
| ethnicity = ]
| region =
| main_interests = ], ], ] and ]
| notable_ideas=
| works = ]
| influences =
| influenced = <small>], d 600 AH<ref name="sahwah"/><br>], d 654 AH<ref name="Robinson:2003:XV"/><br> ]<ref name="sahwah"/><br>]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ibn_aljawzi.htm |title=Ibn Al-Jawzi |publisher=Sunnah.org |date= |accessdate=2013-11-28}}</ref></small>
}}


Ibn al-Jawzi began his career proper during the reign of ] (d. 1160), the thirty-first ] of the ], whose Hanbali ], ] (d. 1165), served as a patron of Ibn al-Jawzi's scholarship.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Beginning his scholarly career as a ] to his mentor Abū Ḥakīm al-Nahrawānī, who taught Hanbali ] in two separate ], Ibn al-Jawzi succeeded al-Nahrawānī as "master of these two colleges" after the latter's death in 1161.<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref>Ibn Rajab, ''Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila'', Cairo 1372/1953, i, 404</ref> A year or so prior to this, however, Ibn al-Jawzi had already begun his career as a preacher, as Ibn Hubayra had given him ] to deliver his passionate sermons every Friday in the vizer's own house.<ref>Ibn Rajab, ''Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila'', Cairo 1372/1953, i, 402</ref> After al-Muqtafi's death, the succeeding caliph, ] (d. 1170), called upon Ibn al-Jawzi to preach his sermons in the Caliph's ] mosque – one of the most prominent houses of worship in the whole of Baghdad – during the three campaigns of ] against the tottering ].<ref name="ReferenceC"/> In these sermons, Ibn al-Jawzi is said to have "vigorously defended the ] and criticized, not only all those whom he considered to be schismatics, but also the ] who were too blindly attached to their own ]."<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
'''Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi''' (510 AH - 12 ], 597 AH/ 1116 AD - 14 June, 1201 AD) from ] was an ] whose family traces their lineage back to that of ], the famous companion of ] and first ]. He belonged to the ] ].


During the reign of the succeeding Abbasid caliph, ] (d. 1180), Ibn al-Jawzi began to be recognized "as one of the most influential persons in Baghdad."<ref name="ReferenceC"/> As this particular ruler was especially partial to Hanbalism,<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Ibn al-Jawzi was given free rein to promote Hanbalism by way of his preaching throughout Baghdad.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> The numerous sermons Ibn al-Jawzi delivered from 1172 to 1173 cemented his reputation as the premier scholar in Baghdad at the time; indeed, the scholar soon began to be so appreciated for his gifts as an orator that al-Mustadi even went so far as to have a special ] (Arabic ''dikka'') constructed specially for Ibn al-Jawzi in the Palace mosque.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Ibn al-Jawzi's stature as a scholar only continued to grow in the following years.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
==Genealogy==
His full name and ] was Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ({{lang-ar|عبد الرحمن بن علي بن محمد}}) ibn `Ubayd-Allah ibn `Abd-Allah ibn Hammadi ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ja`far ibn `Abd-Allah ibn al-Qasim ibn al-Nadr ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd-Allah ibn al-Faqih `Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Faqih al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.


By 1179, Ibn al-Jawzi had written over one hundred and fifty works and was directing five colleges in Baghdad simultaneously.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> It was at this time that he told al-Mustadi to engrave an inscription onto the widely venerated tomb of ] (d. 855) – the revered founder of the Hanbali rite – which referred to the famed jurist as "''Imām''."<ref>Ibn Kat̲h̲īr, ''Bidāya'', Cairo 1351-8/1932-9, xii, 28–30</ref> After the ascendancy of the new caliph, ] (d. 1235), to the Abbasid throne, Ibn al-Jawzi initially maintained amicable relations with the state power by way of his friendship with the caliph's Hanbali vizier, Ibn Yūnus (d. 1197).<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> However, after the latter's dismissal and arrest – for unknown reasons – the caliph appointed as his successor the ] Ibn al-Ḳaṣṣāb (d. ca. 1250).<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> Although the reasons for the matter remain unclear in the historical record,<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> al-Nasir eventually sentenced Ibn al-Jawzi to live under ] for five years.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> One of the possible reasons for this may be that Ibn al-Jawzi's relationship with the caliph had soured after the scholar had written a direct refutation of the ruler's policy in a particular matter.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> After five years in exile, Ibn al-Jawzi was eventually set free due to the pleading of ], whom the various chronicles describe as "a very devout woman" who pleaded with her son to free the famous scholar.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> Soon after his return to Baghdad, however, Ibn al-Jawzi died, being seventy-four years old.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/>
==Biography==
He was known for his works in ] of the ] as well as his numerous ] writings. One of the more famous of the latter is his "Tahqiq", a compendium of both the hadith evidences used by the ] school of jurisprudential thought and a work of comparative law (Arabic: فقه ]). He is said to have been a ] who allegedly made his first ] at the age of ten (attended by a crowd of 50,000), and authored his first book at the age of thirteen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=1277 |title=Ibn al-Jawzi: A Lifetime of Da'wah |publisher=Islamicawakening.com |date= |accessdate=2013-11-28}}</ref>


==Views and thought==
==Theology==
===Polemics===
Ibn al-Jawzi was a noted ],<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> and often attacked with great zeal the works of all those whom he deemed to be ] in the religion.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> His criticisms of other schools of thought appears most prominently in ''Talbīs Iblīs'' (''The Devil's Delusion''), "one of the major works of Hanbali polemic,"<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> in which he staunchly critiqued not only numerous sects outside ], such as the ]s and the ]s, but also particular schools of thought within Sunnism who he believed had strayed from the right path.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> Due to some of Ibn al-Jawzi's remarks against some of the "wayward Sufis" of his time in this work, contemporary Muslim movements opposed to traditional ], such as ] and ], often cite the work as evidence of their position in the present day.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> Despite this, scholars have noted how Ibn al-Jawzi never actually attacks Sufism as such, but always makes a clear distinction in his works "between an older purer Sufism" and what he deems to be corruptions in Sufi practice.<ref name="Boyle 299"/> It is clear that Ibn al-Jawzi never intended his attacks on certain Sufi groups contemporaneous with him to constitute a condemnation of Sufism as a whole.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/>


===Relics===
Ibn al-Jawzi is famous for the theological stance that he took against other Hanbalites of the time, in particular Ibn al-Zaghuni and al-Qadi Abu Ya'la. He believed that these and other Hanbalites had gone to extremes in affirming God's Attributes, so much so that he accused them of tarnishing the reputation of Hanbalites and making it synonymous with extreme ]. Ibn al-Jawzi stated that, ''"They believed that He has a form and a face in addition to His Self. They believed that He has two eyes, a mouth, a uvula and molars, a face which is light and splendor, two hands, including the palms of hands, fingers including the little fingers and the thumbs, a back, and two legs divided into thighs and shanks."''<ref name=Holtzman-188>{{cite web|last1=Holtzman|first1=Livnat|title=“Does God Really Laugh?” – Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology|url=http://arabic.biu.ac.il/files/arabic/shared/staff/u16/holtzman_final080310.pdf|publisher=Bar‐Ilan University, Ramat Gan}}</ref>
Ibn al-Jawzi was an avid supporter of using the ] in personal devotion, and supported the seeking of ] through them in religious veneration. This is evident from his approved citing of a tradition narrated by ]'s son Abdullah, who recalled his father's devotion towards the Prophet's relics thus: "I saw my father take one of the Prophet's hairs, place it over his mouth, and kiss it. I may have seen him place it over his eyes, and dip it in water and then drink the water for a cure."<ref name="Jawzī, 2016 p. 89">Ibn al-Jawzī, ''The Life of Ibn Hanbal'', XXIV.2, trans. Michael Cooperson (New York: New York University Press, 2016), p. 89</ref> In the same way, Ibn al-Jawzi also commended Ibn Hanbal for having drunk from the Prophet's bowl (technically a "second-class" relic) in order to seek blessings from it.<ref name="Jawzī, 2016 p. 89"/>


===Saints===
Ibn al-Jawzi's most famous work in this regard is his ''al‐Bāz al‐ašhab al‐munqadd 'alà muhālifī al‐madhab'' (The Gray Falcon Which Attacks the Offenders of the School).<ref name=Holtzman-188/>
Ibn al-Jawzi supported the orthodox and widespread classical belief in the existence of ], as is evident from his major work on the lives of the early Muslim ] entitled ''Sifat al-ṣafwa'' (''The Characteristic of the Elect'') – actually an abridgment of ]'s (d. 1038) ''Ḥilyat al-awliyāʼ'' (''The Adornment of the Saints'')<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> – in which he explicitly praises such important Sufis as ] (d. 728), ] (d. ca. 782), ] (d. 778), ] (d. 801), ] (d. ca. 820), and ] (d. ca. 850), among many others.<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī"/> While Ibn al-Jawzi did criticize charlatans who masquerade as holy men, he unreservedly states that true "saints do not violate" orthodox belief, practice, and law.<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, "Faithful Dissenters: Sunni Skepticism about the Miracles of Saints," ''Journal of Sufi Studies'' 1 (2012), p. 162</ref> Regarding saints, Ibn al-Jawzi said:


<blockquote>The saints and the righteous are the very purpose of all that exists (''al-awliya wa-al-salihun hum al-maqsud min al-kawn''): they are those who learned and practiced with the reality of knowledge... Those who practice what they know, do with little in the world, seek the next world, remain ready to leave from one to the other with wakeful eyes and good provision, as opposed to those renowned purely for their knowledge."<ref>Ibn al-Jawzi, ''Sifat al-safwa'' (Beirut ed. 1989/1409) p. 13, 17.</ref></blockquote>
===God is neither inside nor outside of the Universe===


===Sufism===
Ibn Jawzi states, in As-Sifat, that God neither exists inside the world nor outside of it.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159">Swartz, Merlin. ''A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism'', pg. 159. ]: ], 2001.</ref> To him, "being inside or outside are concomitant of things located in space" i.e. what is outside or inside must be in a place, and, according to him, this is not applicable to God.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159"/> He writes: <blockquote>
Ibn al-Jawzi evidently held that ] or ''tasawwuf'' was an integral aspect of Islamic practice. As has been noted by scholars, his ''Talbīs Iblīs'', which criticizes innovations in ''all'' the major Islamic sciences including ] and ], is by no means a rejection of Sufism as a whole.<ref name="abc.se">{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.se/home/m9783/ir/f/ts/Tasawwuf%20shuyukh.htm#18|title=Error404}}</ref> On the contrary, the Hanbali jurist wrote many books on the merits of the early mystics and saints, including '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', and others.<ref name="abc.se"/> Ibn al-Jawzi was also a staunch supporter of the teachings of ], and many of the former's works dealing with Sufism are influenced by Ghazali's most famous work, the '']''.<ref name="abc.se"/> As a matter of fact, Ibn al-Jawzi frequently adopted the actual "methodology and language of" Ghazali in his own works, in addition to writing about the same subject matter.<ref name="abc.se"/> Among the topics Ibn al-Jawzi covered in his mystical works were: the meaning of passionate longing for God; the taking of one's ''nafs'' to account for its deeds; the berating of the ''nafs'' for its shortcomings; and the castigating of the ''nafs''.<ref name="abc.se"/>
Both along with movement, rest, and other accidents are constitutive of bodies ... The divine essence does not admit of any created entity within it or inhering in it.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159"/>
</blockquote>


== Creed ==
]
{{Ash'arism}}
{{ill|Ibn al-Ahdal|ar|بدر الدين الأهدل}} (d. 855/1451) in his ''Kashf al-Ghata' 'an Haqa'iq al-Tawhid'' ({{langx|ar|كشف الغطاء عن حقائق التوحيد}}) considered him one of the ] scholars along with ]. However, unlike other Hanbalis, he did not totally reject the ] and accepted Kalam and ] when needed depending on the person.<ref name="Ibn al-Ahdal">{{cite book|author=]|editor=Ahmad Bakīr Mahmud|url=https://archive.org/download/kalam-misc/kashful-ghitaa.pdf|title=Kashf al-Ghata' 'an Haqa'iq al-Tawhid|script-title=ar:كشف الغطاء عن حقائق التوحيد|language=ar|location=]|publisher=]|year=1964|page=83|quote=وكل هؤلاء الذين ذكرنا عقائدهم من أئمة الشافعية سوى القرشي والشاذلي فمالكيان أشعريان. ولنتبع ذلك بعقيدة المالكية وعقيدتين للحنفية ليعلم أن غالب أهل هذين المذهبين على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد، '''وبعض الحنبلية في الفروع يكونون على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد كالشيخ عبد القادر الجيلاني وابن الجوزي وغيرهما رضي الله عنهم.''' وقد تقدم وسيأتي أيضاً أن الأشعري والإمام أحمد كانا في الاعتقاد متفقين حتى حدث الخلاف من أتباعه القائلين بالحرف والصوت والجهة وغير ذلك فلهذا لم نذكر عقائد المخالفين واقتصرنا على عقائد أصحابنا الأشعرية ومن وافقهم من المالكية والحنفية رضي الله عنهم. فأما عقيدة المالكية فهي تأليف الشيخ الإمام الكبير الشهير أبي محمد عبد الله بن أبي زيد المالكي ذكرها في صدر كتابه الرسالة}}</ref>


==Works== == Theology ==
Ibn al-Jawzi is famous for the theological stance that he took against other Hanbalites of the time, in particular Ibn al-Zaghuni and al-Qadi Abu Ya'la. He believed that these and other Hanbalites had gone to extremes in affirming God's Attributes, so much so that he accused them of tarnishing the reputation of Hanbalites and making it synonymous with extreme ] (likening God to his creation). Ibn al-Jawzi stated that,
Ibn al-Jawzi is perhaps ''the'' most prolific author in Islamic history. ] states: “I have not known anyone amongst the ‘ulama to have written as much as he (Ibn al-Jawzi) did.<ref name="sahwah"></ref> Recently, Professor Abdul Hameed al-Aloojee, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extent of ibn al Jawzi’s works and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al Jawzees’s works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. The number of Ibn al-Jawzi’s books reached a staggering total of 376 texts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/seerah/0035.htm |title=Ibn al-Jawzee |publisher=Sunnahonline.com |date= |accessdate=2013-11-28}}</ref> Some have suggested that he is the author of more than 700 works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ibn_aljawzi.htm |title=Ibn Al-Jawzi |publisher=Sunnah.org |date= |accessdate=2013-11-28}}</ref>


''"They believed that He has a form and a face in addition to His Self. They believed that He has two eyes, a mouth, a uvula and molars, a face which is light and splendor, two hands, including the palms of hands, fingers including the little fingers and the thumbs, a back, and two legs divided into thighs and shanks."''<ref name="Holtzman-188">{{cite web|last1=Holtzman|first1=Livnat|title="Does God Really Laugh?" – Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology|url=http://arabic.biu.ac.il/files/arabic/shared/staff/u16/holtzman_final080310.pdf|publisher=Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan|pages=188}}</ref>
In addition to the topic of religion, Ibn al-Jawzi wrote about medicine as well. Like the medicinal works of ], Ibn al-Jawzi's book was almost exclusively based on ] rather than a synthesis of both Islamic and Greek medicine like the works of ]. Ibn al-Jawzi's work focused primarily on diet and natural remedies for both serious ailments such as rabies and smallpox and simple conditions such as headaches and nosebleeds.<ref>Emilie Savage-Smith, "Medicine." Taken from ''Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Volume 3: Technology, Alchemy and Life Sciences'', pg. 928. Ed. Roshdi Rasheed. ]: ], 1996. ISBN 0415124123</ref>


And he continued his attack on Abu Ya'la by stating that, ''"Whoever confirms that God has molars as a divine attribute, has absolutely no knowledge of Islam."''<ref name=Holtzman-191>{{cite web|last1=Holtzman|first1=Livnat|title="Does God Really Laugh?" – Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology|url=http://arabic.biu.ac.il/files/arabic/shared/staff/u16/holtzman_final080310.pdf|publisher=Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan|pages=191}}</ref>
*] (Arabic: الموضوعات الكبرى)
*] <ref>Swartz, Merlin. ''A Medieval Critque of Anthropomorphism''. Brill, 2001</ref>
*Safwat al-Safwa, 5 parts, abridgment of ] by Abu Nu’aym


Ibn al-Jawzi's most famous work in this regard is his '']'' (The Gray Falcon Which Attacks the Offenders of the School).<ref name=Holtzman-188 />
==See also==
*]
*]
*]


=== God is neither inside nor outside the Universe ===
==Notes==
Ibn Jawzi states, in As-Sifat, that God neither exists inside the world nor outside of it.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159">Swartz, Merlin. ''A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism'', pg. 159. ]: ], 2001.</ref> To him, "being inside or outside are concomitant of things located in space" i.e. what is outside or inside must be in a place, and, according to him, this is not applicable to God.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159" /> He writes:
<References/>


<blockquote>Both along with movement, rest, and other accidents are constitutive of bodies ... The divine essence does not admit of any created entity within it or inhering in it.<ref name="Swartz, Merlin 2001, p.159" />
==References==
</blockquote>
{{wikisourcelang|ar|مؤلف:ابن الجوزي|Ibn Al-Jawzi}}


]
*Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-62936-5


==External links== == Works ==
Ibn al-Jawzi is perhaps the most prolific author in Islamic history. ] states: "I have not known anyone amongst the 'ulama to have written as much as he (Ibn al-Jawzi) did.<ref name="sahwah">{{Cite web|url=http://www.as-sahwah.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=1277&|title=IslamicAwakening.Com: Ibn al-Jawzi: A Lifetime of Da'wah|date=October 22, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022195654/http://www.as-sahwah.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=1277& |archive-date=2006-10-22 }}</ref> Recently, Professor Abdul Hameed al-Aloojee, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extent of ibn al Jawzi's works and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al Jawzees's works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. Some have suggested that he is the author of more than 700 works.<ref name="Ibn Al-Jawzi"/>
* 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi trans. Abdullah bin Hamid 'Ali published by
*
*
* {{fr icon}}
* {{fr icon}}


In addition to the topic of religion, Ibn al-Jawzi wrote about medicine as well. Like the medicinal works of ], Ibn al-Jawzi's book was almost exclusively based on ] rather than a synthesis of both Islamic and Greek medicine like the works of ]. Ibn al-Jawzi's work focused primarily on diet and natural remedies for both serious ailments such as rabies and smallpox and simple conditions such as headaches and nosebleeds.<ref>Emilie Savage-Smith, "Medicine." Taken from ''Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Volume 3: Technology, Alchemy and Life Sciences'', pg. 928. Ed. Roshdi Rasheed. ]: ], 1996. {{ISBN|0-415-12412-3}}</ref>
{{Islamic theology}}
* '']''
* '']''<ref>Swartz, Merlin. ''A Medieval Critque of Anthropomorphism''. Brill, 2001</ref>
* ''Sifatu al-Safwah'', five parts, reworking of ] by the 11th century scholar ]
* ''{{'}}Ādāb al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī wa-Zuhduh wa-Mawaʿiẓuh'' (The Manners of ], his Asceticism, and his Exhortations)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=ابن الجوزي، عبد الرحمن بن علي بن محمد،|url=http://www.aruc.org/fullbib.aspx?id=1882791|title=آداب الحسن البصري وزهده ومواعظه|last2=الحرش، سليمان بن مسلم|date=2007|publisher=دار النوادر،|location=دمشق|language=ar|oclc=4770455870}}</ref>
*''Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir'' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hilalplaza.com/products/zad-al-masir-fi-ilm-al-tafsir-8-vol|title = Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir 8 vol.4 books}}</ref>
*''Talbīs Iblīs''
*''Tadhkirah Uli Al-Basāir fī Ma'rifah Al-Kabāir''
*''Gharīb Al-Ḥadīth''
*''Ahkam Al-Nisa''
*''Molid Al-Urus''
*''Hifdh Al-'Umr''
*''Bayan-ul-Miladun-Nabavi'''
*''Bahr Al-Damou'''


== Tomb ==
{{Authority control}}
The tomb of Ibn Al-Jawzi is located at Baghdad, Iraq. The tomb is a simple green cement slab surrounded by rocks, and a paper sign on it indicating it is the tomb. In 2019 rumors spread about the tomb being removed after a photo was released showing the removal of the tomb. However, the Iraqi officials denied it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shafaq.com/ar|title=شفق نيوز|website=شفق نيوز}}</ref>
{{Persondata

| NAME = Abu-Al-Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi
== See also ==
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
* ]
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Scholar
* ]
| DATE OF BIRTH = 508
* ]
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
* ]
| DATE OF DEATH = 1201
* ]
| PLACE OF DEATH =

==References==
{{Reflist|3|refs=
<ref name="Laoust - Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī">Laoust, H., "Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī", in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'', Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs.</ref>
<ref name="Ibn Rajab 404-405">Ibn Rajab, ''Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābil''a, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 404–405</ref>
}} }}

== References ==
{{wikisourcelang|ar|مؤلف:ابن الجوزي|Ibn Al-Jawzi}}
* Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-62936-5}}

== External links ==
*
* 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi trans. Abdullah bin Hamid 'Ali published by
*
* {{in lang|fr}}
* {{in lang|fr}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Islam|Iraq}}
{{Historians of Islam}}
{{Hanbali scholars}}
{{Ash'ari}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Al-Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Al-Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi}}
] ]
] ]
]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
] ]
] ]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 10:40, 22 January 2025

Muslim preacher and scholar (c. 1116–1201) For other uses, see Ibn al-Jawzi (disambiguation).
Ibn al-Jawzi
A depiction of Baghdad from 1808, taken from the print collection in Travels in Asia and Africa, etc. (ed. J. P. Berjew, British Library); Ibn al-Jawzī spent his entire life in this city in the twelfth-century.
Jurisconsult, Preacher, Traditionist;
Shaykh of Islam, Orator of Kings and Princes, Imam of the Hanbalites
Venerated inSunni Islam, but particularly in the Hanbali school of jurisprudence
Major shrineGreen Cement Tomb at Baghdad, Iraq
Ibn al-Jawzi
TitleShaykh al-Islam
Personal life
Bornc. 510 AH/1116 CE
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, now Iraq
Died12 Ramadan 597 AH/16 June 1201 (aged approximately 84)
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, now Iraq
EraIslamic Golden Age
Main interest(s)History, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh
Notable work(s)Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanbali
CreedAsh'ari
Muslim leader
Influenced

Abū al-Farash ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي; c. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, was a Muslim jurisconsult, preacher, orator, heresiographer, traditionist, historian, judge, hagiographer, and philologist who played an instrumental role in propagating the Hanbali school of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence in his native Baghdad during the twelfth-century. During "a life of great intellectual, religious and political activity," Ibn al-Jawzi came to be widely admired by his fellow Hanbalis for the tireless role he played in ensuring that that particular school – historically, the smallest of the four principal Sunni schools of law – enjoy the same level of "prestige" often bestowed by rulers on the Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanafi rites.

Ibn al-Jawzi received a "very thorough education" during his adolescent years, and was fortunate to train under some of that era's most renowned Baghdadi scholars, including Ibn al-Zāg̲h̲ūnī (d. 1133), Abū Bakr al-Dīnawarī (d. 1137–8), Sayyid Razzāq Alī Jīlānī (d. 1208), and Abū Manṣūr al-Jawālīkī (d. 1144–5). Although Ibn al-Jawzi's scholarly career continued to blossom over the next few years, he became most famous during the reign of al-Mustadi (d. 1180), the thirty-third Abbasid caliph, whose support for Hanbalism allowed Ibn al-Jawzi to effectively become "one of the most influential persons" in Baghdad, due to the caliph's approval of Ibn al-Jawzi's public sermonizing to huge crowds in both pastoral and urban areas throughout Baghdad. In the vast majority of the public sermons delivered during al-Mustadi's reign, Ibn al-Jawzi often presented a stanch defense of the prophet Muhammad's example, and vigorously criticized all those whom he considered to be schismatics in the faith. At the same time, Ibn al-Jawzi's reputation as a scholar continued to grow due to the substantial role he played in managing many of the most important universities in the area, as well as on account of the sheer number of works he wrote during this period. As regards the latter point, part of Ibn al-Jawzi's legacy rests on his reputation for having been "one of the most prolific writers" of all time. As scholars have noted, Ibn al-Jawzi's prodigious corpus, "varying in length" as it does, touches upon virtually "all the great disciplines" of classical Islamic study.

Life

Ibn al-Jawzi was born between 507 and 12 H./1113-19 CE to a "fairly wealthy family" in Baghdad, which "descended from Abu Bakr", His parents proceeded to give their son a "thorough education" in all the principal disciplines of the period, whence Ibn al-Jawzi had the good fortune of studying under such notable scholars of the time as Ibn al-Zāghūnī (d. 1133), Abū Bakr al-Dīnawarī (d. 1137–8), Shaiykh Saiyed Razzaq Ali Gilani (d. 1208), Abū Manṣūr al-Jawālīkī (d. 1144–5), Abu 'l-Faḍl b. al-Nāṣir (d. 1155), Abū Ḥakīm al-Nahrawānī (d. 1161) and Abū Yaʿlā the Younger (d. 1163). Additionally, Ibn al-Jawzi began to be heavily influenced by the works of other scholars he read but whom he had never met personally, such as Abu Nu`aym (d. 1038), a Shafi'i Ashari mystic, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 1071), a Hanbali who had changed to Shafi'ism, and the prominent Hanbali thinker Ibn `Aqīl (d. ca. 1120), whom Ibn al-Jawzi would both praise and criticize in his later writings. He was an adherent of the Ashari school of dialectical theology, an aspect of his thought that would later distinguish him from many of his fellow Hanbali thinkers, In his early works he criticized speculation in theology, in particular modernizing trends among the Sufis.

Ibn al-Jawzi began his career proper during the reign of al-Muqtafi (d. 1160), the thirty-first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, whose Hanbali vizier, Ibn Hubayra (d. 1165), served as a patron of Ibn al-Jawzi's scholarship. Beginning his scholarly career as a teaching assistant to his mentor Abū Ḥakīm al-Nahrawānī, who taught Hanbali jurisprudence in two separate schools, Ibn al-Jawzi succeeded al-Nahrawānī as "master of these two colleges" after the latter's death in 1161. A year or so prior to this, however, Ibn al-Jawzi had already begun his career as a preacher, as Ibn Hubayra had given him free rein to deliver his passionate sermons every Friday in the vizer's own house. After al-Muqtafi's death, the succeeding caliph, al-Mustanjid (d. 1170), called upon Ibn al-Jawzi to preach his sermons in the Caliph's palace mosque – one of the most prominent houses of worship in the whole of Baghdad – during the three campaigns of Nur al-Din Zengi against the tottering Fatimid Caliphate. In these sermons, Ibn al-Jawzi is said to have "vigorously defended the prophetic precedent and criticized, not only all those whom he considered to be schismatics, but also the jurists who were too blindly attached to their own schools of law."

During the reign of the succeeding Abbasid caliph, al-Mustadi (d. 1180), Ibn al-Jawzi began to be recognized "as one of the most influential persons in Baghdad." As this particular ruler was especially partial to Hanbalism, Ibn al-Jawzi was given free rein to promote Hanbalism by way of his preaching throughout Baghdad. The numerous sermons Ibn al-Jawzi delivered from 1172 to 1173 cemented his reputation as the premier scholar in Baghdad at the time; indeed, the scholar soon began to be so appreciated for his gifts as an orator that al-Mustadi even went so far as to have a special dais (Arabic dikka) constructed specially for Ibn al-Jawzi in the Palace mosque. Ibn al-Jawzi's stature as a scholar only continued to grow in the following years.

By 1179, Ibn al-Jawzi had written over one hundred and fifty works and was directing five colleges in Baghdad simultaneously. It was at this time that he told al-Mustadi to engrave an inscription onto the widely venerated tomb of Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) – the revered founder of the Hanbali rite – which referred to the famed jurist as "Imām." After the ascendancy of the new caliph, al-Nasir (d. 1235), to the Abbasid throne, Ibn al-Jawzi initially maintained amicable relations with the state power by way of his friendship with the caliph's Hanbali vizier, Ibn Yūnus (d. 1197). However, after the latter's dismissal and arrest – for unknown reasons – the caliph appointed as his successor the Shia Ibn al-Ḳaṣṣāb (d. ca. 1250). Although the reasons for the matter remain unclear in the historical record, al-Nasir eventually sentenced Ibn al-Jawzi to live under house arrest for five years. One of the possible reasons for this may be that Ibn al-Jawzi's relationship with the caliph had soured after the scholar had written a direct refutation of the ruler's policy in a particular matter. After five years in exile, Ibn al-Jawzi was eventually set free due to the pleading of al-Nasir's mother, whom the various chronicles describe as "a very devout woman" who pleaded with her son to free the famous scholar. Soon after his return to Baghdad, however, Ibn al-Jawzi died, being seventy-four years old.

Views and thought

Polemics

Ibn al-Jawzi was a noted polemicist, and often attacked with great zeal the works of all those whom he deemed to be heretical innovators in the religion. His criticisms of other schools of thought appears most prominently in Talbīs Iblīs (The Devil's Delusion), "one of the major works of Hanbali polemic," in which he staunchly critiqued not only numerous sects outside Sunni Islam, such as the Mutazilites and the Kharijites, but also particular schools of thought within Sunnism who he believed had strayed from the right path. Due to some of Ibn al-Jawzi's remarks against some of the "wayward Sufis" of his time in this work, contemporary Muslim movements opposed to traditional Sufism, such as Salafism and Wahhabism, often cite the work as evidence of their position in the present day. Despite this, scholars have noted how Ibn al-Jawzi never actually attacks Sufism as such, but always makes a clear distinction in his works "between an older purer Sufism" and what he deems to be corruptions in Sufi practice. It is clear that Ibn al-Jawzi never intended his attacks on certain Sufi groups contemporaneous with him to constitute a condemnation of Sufism as a whole.

Relics

Ibn al-Jawzi was an avid supporter of using the relics of Muhammad in personal devotion, and supported the seeking of blessing through them in religious veneration. This is evident from his approved citing of a tradition narrated by Ibn Hanbal's son Abdullah, who recalled his father's devotion towards the Prophet's relics thus: "I saw my father take one of the Prophet's hairs, place it over his mouth, and kiss it. I may have seen him place it over his eyes, and dip it in water and then drink the water for a cure." In the same way, Ibn al-Jawzi also commended Ibn Hanbal for having drunk from the Prophet's bowl (technically a "second-class" relic) in order to seek blessings from it.

Saints

Ibn al-Jawzi supported the orthodox and widespread classical belief in the existence of saints, as is evident from his major work on the lives of the early Muslim Sufi saints entitled Sifat al-ṣafwa (The Characteristic of the Elect) – actually an abridgment of Abu Nu`aym's (d. 1038) Ḥilyat al-awliyāʼ (The Adornment of the Saints) – in which he explicitly praises such important Sufis as Hasan of Basra (d. 728), Ibrahim ibn Adham (d. ca. 782), Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 778), Rabi`a Basri (d. 801), Ma`ruf Karkhi (d. ca. 820), and Bishr the Barefoot (d. ca. 850), among many others. While Ibn al-Jawzi did criticize charlatans who masquerade as holy men, he unreservedly states that true "saints do not violate" orthodox belief, practice, and law. Regarding saints, Ibn al-Jawzi said:

The saints and the righteous are the very purpose of all that exists (al-awliya wa-al-salihun hum al-maqsud min al-kawn): they are those who learned and practiced with the reality of knowledge... Those who practice what they know, do with little in the world, seek the next world, remain ready to leave from one to the other with wakeful eyes and good provision, as opposed to those renowned purely for their knowledge."

Sufism

Ibn al-Jawzi evidently held that Sufism or tasawwuf was an integral aspect of Islamic practice. As has been noted by scholars, his Talbīs Iblīs, which criticizes innovations in all the major Islamic sciences including tafsir and fiqh, is by no means a rejection of Sufism as a whole. On the contrary, the Hanbali jurist wrote many books on the merits of the early mystics and saints, including Manaqib Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya, Manaqib Ma`ruf al-Karkhi, Manaqib Ibrahim ibn Adham, Manaqib Bishr al-Hafi, and others. Ibn al-Jawzi was also a staunch supporter of the teachings of Ghazali, and many of the former's works dealing with Sufism are influenced by Ghazali's most famous work, the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. As a matter of fact, Ibn al-Jawzi frequently adopted the actual "methodology and language of" Ghazali in his own works, in addition to writing about the same subject matter. Among the topics Ibn al-Jawzi covered in his mystical works were: the meaning of passionate longing for God; the taking of one's nafs to account for its deeds; the berating of the nafs for its shortcomings; and the castigating of the nafs.

Creed

Part of a series on
Ash'arism
Rock carved with al-'Aqida al-Murshida by Ibn Tumart
Background
Eminent scholars
3rd AH/9th AD
4th AH/10th AD
5th AH/11th AD
6th AH/12th AD
7th AH/13th AD
8th AH/14th AD
9th AH/15th AD
10th AH/16th AD
11th AH/17th AD
12th AH/18th AD
13th AH/19th AD
14th AH/20th AD
Theological works
Institutions
Events
Related groups
Classic
Modern

Ibn al-Ahdal [ar] (d. 855/1451) in his Kashf al-Ghata' 'an Haqa'iq al-Tawhid (Arabic: كشف الغطاء عن حقائق التوحيد) considered him one of the Ash'ari scholars along with Abdul Qadir Gilani. However, unlike other Hanbalis, he did not totally reject the mutakalimun and accepted Kalam and Ta'wil when needed depending on the person.

Theology

Ibn al-Jawzi is famous for the theological stance that he took against other Hanbalites of the time, in particular Ibn al-Zaghuni and al-Qadi Abu Ya'la. He believed that these and other Hanbalites had gone to extremes in affirming God's Attributes, so much so that he accused them of tarnishing the reputation of Hanbalites and making it synonymous with extreme anthropomorphism (likening God to his creation). Ibn al-Jawzi stated that,

"They believed that He has a form and a face in addition to His Self. They believed that He has two eyes, a mouth, a uvula and molars, a face which is light and splendor, two hands, including the palms of hands, fingers including the little fingers and the thumbs, a back, and two legs divided into thighs and shanks."

And he continued his attack on Abu Ya'la by stating that, "Whoever confirms that God has molars as a divine attribute, has absolutely no knowledge of Islam."

Ibn al-Jawzi's most famous work in this regard is his Bāz al‐ašhab al‐munqadd 'alà muhālifī al‐madhab (The Gray Falcon Which Attacks the Offenders of the School).

God is neither inside nor outside the Universe

Ibn Jawzi states, in As-Sifat, that God neither exists inside the world nor outside of it. To him, "being inside or outside are concomitant of things located in space" i.e. what is outside or inside must be in a place, and, according to him, this is not applicable to God. He writes:

Both along with movement, rest, and other accidents are constitutive of bodies ... The divine essence does not admit of any created entity within it or inhering in it.

Front cover of Al-Radd 'Ala al-Muta'assib al-'Anid al-Mani' Min Thamm Yazid published by Dar ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyah

Works

Ibn al-Jawzi is perhaps the most prolific author in Islamic history. Al-Dhahabi states: "I have not known anyone amongst the 'ulama to have written as much as he (Ibn al-Jawzi) did. Recently, Professor Abdul Hameed al-Aloojee, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extent of ibn al Jawzi's works and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al Jawzees's works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. Some have suggested that he is the author of more than 700 works.

In addition to the topic of religion, Ibn al-Jawzi wrote about medicine as well. Like the medicinal works of Al-Suyuti, Ibn al-Jawzi's book was almost exclusively based on Prophetic medicine rather than a synthesis of both Islamic and Greek medicine like the works of Al-Dhahabi. Ibn al-Jawzi's work focused primarily on diet and natural remedies for both serious ailments such as rabies and smallpox and simple conditions such as headaches and nosebleeds.

Tomb

The tomb of Ibn Al-Jawzi is located at Baghdad, Iraq. The tomb is a simple green cement slab surrounded by rocks, and a paper sign on it indicating it is the tomb. In 2019 rumors spread about the tomb being removed after a photo was released showing the removal of the tomb. However, the Iraqi officials denied it.

See also

References

  1. Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'.
  2. J. A. Boyle (1968). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 5 of The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge University Press. p. 299. ISBN 9780521069366. Talbis Iblis, by the Ash'ari theologian Ibn al-Jawzi, contains strong attacks on the Sufis, though the author makes a distinction between an older purer Sufism and the "modern" one,
  3. Gibril Fouad Haddad (2015). The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams & Hadith Masters. As-Sunnah Foundation of America. p. 226. Abu al-Faraj bin al-Jawzi al-Qurashi al-Taymi al-Bakri al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali al-Ashari (509/510-597AH).
  4. ^ Ibn al-Ahdal (1964). Ahmad Bakīr Mahmud (ed.). Kashf al-Ghata' 'an Haqa'iq al-Tawhid كشف الغطاء عن حقائق التوحيد (PDF) (in Arabic). Tunisia: Tunisian General Labour Union. p. 83. وكل هؤلاء الذين ذكرنا عقائدهم من أئمة الشافعية سوى القرشي والشاذلي فمالكيان أشعريان. ولنتبع ذلك بعقيدة المالكية وعقيدتين للحنفية ليعلم أن غالب أهل هذين المذهبين على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد، وبعض الحنبلية في الفروع يكونون على مذهب الأشعري في العقائد كالشيخ عبد القادر الجيلاني وابن الجوزي وغيرهما رضي الله عنهم. وقد تقدم وسيأتي أيضاً أن الأشعري والإمام أحمد كانا في الاعتقاد متفقين حتى حدث الخلاف من أتباعه القائلين بالحرف والصوت والجهة وغير ذلك فلهذا لم نذكر عقائد المخالفين واقتصرنا على عقائد أصحابنا الأشعرية ومن وافقهم من المالكية والحنفية رضي الله عنهم. فأما عقيدة المالكية فهي تأليف الشيخ الإمام الكبير الشهير أبي محمد عبد الله بن أبي زيد المالكي ذكرها في صدر كتابه الرسالة
  5. ^ "IslamicAwakening.Com: Ibn al-Jawzi: A Lifetime of Da'wah". October 22, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-10-22.
  6. Robinson:2003:XV
  7. ^ "Ibn Al-Jawzi". Sunnah.org. Archived from the original on 2020-02-22. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
  8. ^ Laoust, H., "Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs.
  9. ^ Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 401
  10. ^ Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 404–405
  11. Ibn al-Jawzi, Sincere Counsel to the Seekers of Sacred Knowledge, Daar Us-Sunnah Publications Birmingham (2011), p. 88
  12. Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 399–434;Merlin Swartz, Ibn al-Jawzī’s Kitāb al-Quṣṣāṣ wa-’l-mudhakkirīn, Recherches publiées sous la direction de l’Institut de lettres orientales de Beyrouth, Série 1, Pensée arabe et musulmane, 47 (Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, 1971), 15.
  13. ^ Laoust, H. (1971). "Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī". In Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume III: H–Iram. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 751–752. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3139. OCLC 495469525.
  14. ^ Boyle, J.A. (January 1, 1968). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods (Volume 5). Cambridge University Press. p. 299. Talbis Iblis, by the Ash'ari theologian Ibn al-Jawzi, contains strong attacks on the Sufis, though the author makes a distinction between an older purer Sufism and the "modern" one,
  15. Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 404
  16. Ibn Rajab, Dhayl ʿalā Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila, Cairo 1372/1953, i, 402
  17. Ibn Kat̲h̲īr, Bidāya, Cairo 1351-8/1932-9, xii, 28–30
  18. ^ Ibn al-Jawzī, The Life of Ibn Hanbal, XXIV.2, trans. Michael Cooperson (New York: New York University Press, 2016), p. 89
  19. Jonathan A. C. Brown, "Faithful Dissenters: Sunni Skepticism about the Miracles of Saints," Journal of Sufi Studies 1 (2012), p. 162
  20. Ibn al-Jawzi, Sifat al-safwa (Beirut ed. 1989/1409) p. 13, 17.
  21. ^ "Error404".
  22. ^ Holtzman, Livnat. ""Does God Really Laugh?" – Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology" (PDF). Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan. p. 188.
  23. Holtzman, Livnat. ""Does God Really Laugh?" – Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology" (PDF). Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan. p. 191.
  24. ^ Swartz, Merlin. A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism, pg. 159. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2001.
  25. Emilie Savage-Smith, "Medicine." Taken from Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Volume 3: Technology, Alchemy and Life Sciences, pg. 928. Ed. Roshdi Rasheed. London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-12412-3
  26. Swartz, Merlin. A Medieval Critque of Anthropomorphism. Brill, 2001
  27. ابن الجوزي، عبد الرحمن بن علي بن محمد،; الحرش، سليمان بن مسلم (2007). آداب الحسن البصري وزهده ومواعظه (in Arabic). دمشق: دار النوادر،. OCLC 4770455870.
  28. "Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir 8 vol.4 books".
  29. "شفق نيوز". شفق نيوز.

References

External links

Portals:
Muslim historians
Historians
7th century
8th century
9th century
10th century
11th century
Arabic
  • Ibn Faradi
  • Ibn Hayyan
  • Said al-Andalusi
  • Al-Udri
  • Al-Bakri
  • Ibn Hazm
  • Hilal al-Sabi'
  • Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
  • Al-Quda'i
  • Ibn Bassam
    • Persian
    12th century
    Arabic
  • Mohammed al-Baydhaq
  • Ibn al-Jawzi
  • Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi
  • Ibn al-Qalanisi
  • Ibn ʽAsakir
  • Usama ibn Munqidh
  • Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani
  • Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad
  • Ibn Hammad
  • Al-Jawwani
  • Ibn al-Sam'ani
    • Persian
    13th century
    Arabic
  • Yaqut al-Hamawi
  • 'Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi
  • Ibn Amira
  • Ibn Jubayr
  • Ibn al-Kardabūs
  • Ibn al-Adim
  • Ibn al-Athir
  • Sibt ibn al-Jawzi
  • Ibn Khallikan
  • Al-Qifti
  • Ibn Abi Zar
    • Persian
    14th century
    Arabic
  • Abu'l-Fida
  • Ibn Idhari
  • Al-Dhahabi
  • Ibn Battuta
  • Ibn al-Khatib
  • Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari
  • Ibn Kathir
  • Ibn al-Tiqtaqa
  • Ibn al-Furat
  • Al-Mufaddal
  • Ibn Khaldun
  • al-ʽAsqalani
    • Persian
    15th century
    Arabic
  • al-Maqrizi
  • Ibn Taghribirdi
  • Al-Sakhawi
  • Al-Suyuti
  • Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi
    • Persian
    Turkish
    16th century
    Arabic
  • Ibn Iyas
  • Mujir al-Din
  • Abd al-Aziz al-Fishtali
  • Ibn al-Qadi
  • Mar'i al-Karmi
    • Persian
    Turkish
    17th century
    Arabic
  • Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari
  • Katib Çelebi
  • Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali
    • Persian
    Turkish
    Ottoman
  • Ibrahim Petchevi
  • Solakzade Mehmed Hemdemi
  • Kâtip Çelebi
  • Munejjim Bashi
  • Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha
  • Osman Aga of Temesvar
  • Mustafa Naima
  • Al-Hasan al-Burini
  • Abdi Pasha
    • Chagatai
    Kurdish
    18th century
    Arabic
  • Mohammed al-Ifrani
  • Mohammed al-Qadiri
  • Khalil al-Muradi
  • al-Zayyani
  • al-Jabarti
    • Persian
    Turkish
    19th century
    Arabic
  • Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri
  • Mohammad Farid
  • Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf
  • Jurji Zaydan
    • Persian
    Turkish
    Ottoman
  • Ali Amiri
  • Ahmed Cevdet Pasha
  • Ahmed Cevad Pasha
    • Azerbaijani
    Kurdish
    Notable works
    Concepts
    Muslim scholars of the Hanbali School
    3rd/9th
    4th/10th
    5th/11th
    6th/12th
    7th/13th
    8th/14th
    11th/17th
    12th/18th
    Scholars of other Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence
    Ash'ari school of Sunni theology
    Ash'ari scholars
    (Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari)
    Malikis
    Shafi'is
    Hanbalis
    Zahiris
    Ash'ari leaders
    Theology books
    See also
    Ash'ari-related templates
    Categories:
    Ibn al-Jawzi: Difference between revisions Add topic