Ibn Taymiyyah is one of the most famous scholars of his time. He rose to prominence among the common people of our time after the concentrated campaign of religiosity spread in the past forty years, and his fame expanded even more after liberals and biased scholars accused him of being the architect of Islamic terrorism.
Ibn Taymiyyah was born and died more than eight hundred years ago. Between us and him are kingdoms, states, wars, fundamental changes in concepts, vision of the universe, life, and language. If a person returned from the era of Ibn Taymiyyah to this day, he would have thought that he landed on another planet that is not related to the humans who came from them.
How was life in his time? How is life in our time today?
You can imagine that the distance between Riyadh and Mecca in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah was about a month. In this time that Ibn Taymiyyah spent on the backs of animals and in the wretchedness of traveling, I would have rolled the globe five times on a comfortable seat. Ibn Taymiyyah will not understand the meaning of my saying I wrapped the world in a comfortable chair, for flying in his perception is only for birds, and he will not understand the meaning of my words as a globe. The earth in his time is flat and extends as long as he wants it to stretch. Our view of the universe has nothing to do with his view of the universe, and his view of distances has nothing to do with our view of distances. His senses would fly if he knew that one of our times walked on the surface of the moon, and that our boats roam deep space.
Ibn Taymiyyah accuses his fatwas of inciting violence, which is not true. They do not put things in the correct context.
What is the definition of a weapon for me and you? What is the definition of weapons when Sheikh Al-Islam?
All that he possessed of weapons did not exceed the sword, dagger, shield, horse, spear and catapult. He would not imagine, may God have mercy on him, that a young teenager sitting on top of a mountain would reap the hordes of Tatars who enslaved him and devastated his homeland with his machine gun. As for the weapon in my mind and in your mind: aircraft carriers and atomic bombs that wipe out life in watches, planes and submarines. The Sheikh’s perception of the word weapon during the fatwa is fundamentally different from the perception of weapons today, and therefore his call for jihad is fundamentally different from the call of today’s callers to jihad, as jihad in Ibn Taymiyyah’s culture does not involve treachery and meanness. Mujahid Ibn Taymiyyah goes out with his sword to meet his opponent, while Mujahid preachers today go with his explosive belt to blow himself up in the worshipers and the safe. When we use the fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah for jihad, we turn chivalry into meanness.
When the sheikh leaves his house, what is the picture of the way he will take to the mosque or to the market? Ibn Taymiyyah’s narrow dirt road smells of rotten animal waste, and at night the hyenas come to throw the scattered corpses in it, but the road in my mind and your mind is King Fahd Road, King Salman Road and Mohammed bin Salman Road. There is no relationship between the word road in my mind and in the mind of Ibn Taymiyyah.
The Sheikh – may God have mercy on him – does not know the meaning of state, banks, organizations, economy, media, traffic, passports, etc. More than 95% of the systems that shape our lives have nothing to do with Ibn Taymiyyah and his era.
When Ibn Taymiyyah talks about hygiene, he does not know that there are living creatures that live with us without us seeing them. He does not know anything called disinfectants, he does not know anything called soap, shampoo and running water, and none of the people of our time goes to the toilet to relieve himself as they used to do.
Even in defining man as a human being, we will disagree with Ibn Taymiyyah and his era. The definition of man in the era of Ibn Taymiyyah contradicts the definition of man in the consciousness of the people of this era. When you wander in the market in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah, you will not fail to see a number of children being led in chains. Human thieves stole them from their families in Africa, Central Asia and elsewhere, then brought them to the market for sale like animals, with no sympathy for their childhood and no dignity for their humanity. For you and me, this is an unfortunate crime, and for the era of Ibn Taymiyyah, it is normal and organized and has its respected laws. This does not mean that we condemn Ibn Taymiyyah, but we should not use the culture of that era, its laws, and the fatwas issued in it. Ibn Taymiyyah’s religion is mine, but his rulings, opinions and fatwas do not concern us and are not directed at you and me. The only place we can benefit from Ibn Taymiyya’s books and writings is the anthropology department at the university.