Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. O Allah! I seek refuge in You from knowingly associating partners with You in any way, and I seek Your forgiveness for that which I do not know. Ameen.
Today I would like to introduce to you one of the prominent figure in Islam whose thirst for knowledge and critical thinking skill should become an examplary to all of us.
His full name is Abu 'Abdillah, Shams ad-Din, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ayyub ibn Sa’d ibn Hariz ibn Makki Zayn ad-Din, az-Zur'i then ad-Dimashqi, Al-Hanbali. He is famously known as Ibn Qayim al-Jawziyyah.
Ibn Qayyim was born on 7th Safar 691H to a noble family. Ibn Qayyim was notable for having strong faith in the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger. Though from Hanbali school of thought, Ibn Qayyim did not restrict himself to adhere to it strictly. Often, he would take the opinion and view of one of the various school of thoughts. Sometimes, it happened that Ibn Qayyim had an opinion which conflicts with the opinion of all school of thoughts. Therefore,
this led him to perform an ijtihad and the rejection of taqlid. It was because of this that he brought upon himself a great harm and was imprisoned with his teacher, Ibn Taymiyyah, in the same prison, though in isolation from him. Ibn Qayyim was not released from the prison until after the death of his teacher. Ibn Qayyim’s attitude of opening himself up to different views and opinions and in performing Ijtihad, reflects in himself the act of critical thinking.
With regard to his teachers, among the people from whom Ibn Qayyim acquired his knowledge from was Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Ibn ‘Abd ad-Da’im, Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah, Ash-Shihab al-Abir, Ibn ash-Shirazi, Al-Majd al-Harrani, Ibn Maktum, Al-Kahhal, Al-Baha’ ibn Asakir, Al-Hakim, Sharaf ad-Din ibn Taymiyyah and Al-Wadda’.
Ibn Qayyim studied Tawhid, ‘Ilm al-Kalam, Tafsir, al-Hadith, Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh (Principles of Fiqh), al-Fara’id (Laws of Inheritance), Arabic language, grammar, and other sciences with the great scholars of his age until he himself excelled in them and surpassed his peers. It is sufficient proof of his great status amongst the scholars that he and his Shaykh, Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah, are always mentioned together like two racehorses.
Ibn Qayyim’s attempts to acquired various knowledge qualified him to be an example of an Islamic critical thinker. This is because, in order for one to be able to be critical in their thinking, first and foremost one should equipped himself with multiple and vast knowledge so that his thinking could be perform from various outlooks and aspects.
Among Ibn Qayyim’s famous works are Madarij al-Salikin Baina Manazil Iyyaka Na’budu wa Iyyaka Nas’tain, Al-Turuq al-Hakimiyyah fi Siyasah al-Shar’iyyah, I’lam al-Muwaqqi’in an Rabbi al-Alamin, Za’adul Ma’ad fi Ahkamal al-Maudud, al-Ruh and many more.
Sadly, Ibn Qayyim died on 13 Rejab 751H in Damsyiq at the age of 60.
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