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Ibn Taymiyya - The Father of Salafism? — Transcript

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0:00on this channel we have often talked
0:01about a certain kind of thinker or
0:04figure in history um I mean we try to
0:06keep it diverse of course but there's no
0:08denying that there's been a certain
0:10tendency in my choice of subjects for
0:13episodes there's been a lot of Sufi a
0:16lot of philosophers and people like that
0:19and sometimes also a lot of figures who
0:21are a bit less known perhaps or that
0:25whose ideas may surprise a lot of you
0:28today we're going to do something a
0:30little different iban tamya is a
0:33significant yet very divisive figure in
0:36Islamic history but definitely one who
0:38has shaped the Islamic world to a large
0:41degree maybe not so much in his own
0:44lifetime or in the period following but
0:47definitely today indeed the ideas and
0:51thought of IB tya is one of the main
0:54Inspirations between some of the more
0:57contemporary and modern movements within
0:59Islam like the so-called wahhabis and
1:02salafis thus I tya can rightly be
1:05considered one of the main architects of
1:07the modern Islamic world but who was he
1:11and what were these ideas that made him
1:13well both so divisive and controversial
1:16but also so loved by many others
1:20[Music]
1:26[Applause]
1:27[Music]
1:48Ahmed IB T was a jurist and theologian
1:51in the 13th and 14th centuries who has
1:55become famous for his unique approach to
1:57Islamic law as well as his St criticism
2:00of anything that he considered to be b
2:03or innovation in the religion this
2:06including things like shiism many
2:08aspects of Sufism as well as other ideas
2:11and practices held by fellow Muslims at
2:13the time he was born in the city of
2:15haran in modern turkey but spent most of
2:18his life in Damascus Syria his year of
2:21birth
2:221263 gives us an indication of the
2:25social and political circumstances of
2:27the time this was right after the
2:29Mongols had sacked the city of Baghdad
2:32executed the last abased caleff and thus
2:34had shockingly and violently destroyed
2:37the main symbol of Islamic Authority and
2:39civilization a civilization that
2:41previously had once stood as seemingly
2:43the greatest in the world needless to
2:46say this was a truly shocking turn of
2:48events and ibben Tamia is born and lives
2:51in this very tumultuous and uncertain
2:53time something that not only occupied
2:56him greatly in his career but which I
2:58think is also Central to understanding
3:00where many of his ideas come from he
3:03came from a family line of hanbali
3:05Scholars and would also attach himself
3:08to this school and become a rather
3:10prominent representative now Sunni
3:12Islamic law is usually divided into four
3:15primary schools the hanafi Maliki shafii
3:20and hanbali the last the hanbali school
3:23is the smallest in terms of adherence
3:25and is usually considered the most quote
3:27unquote strict there's a lot more to
3:30within a simple categorization like that
3:31of course but that is how it is usually
3:33characterized and IB tya would become
3:36quite a prominent hanbal jurist and
3:38scholar in Damascus during his lifetime
3:40even if he did diverge from it at times
3:43he earned himself a reputation early on
3:45as a very charismatic and passionate
3:47individual he began writing juristic
3:49works from a hanbal position early on
3:52and passionately engaged himself with
3:54public disputes and matters of religion
3:56and law in one story after a Christian
3:59is claimed to have insulted the prophet
4:01Muhammad IB tya very forcefully argued
4:04that he should be executed regardless if
4:06he repented and even if he became a
4:08Muslim a point that many other jurists
4:10disagreed on but some of his most major
4:12legal and political engagement relate to
4:14the very dramatic Mongol invasions that
4:16were still very much underway even Tamia
4:19lived in Damascus which was mostly ruled
4:22by the mamluks with their base in Cairo
4:24Egypt the mamluks are famous for
4:26basically being the only Islamic polity
4:29that was able to withstand the Mongols
4:31at the time as the Mongols never
4:33actually made it into North Africa but
4:35during iben Tamia's life Damascus and
4:38Syria saw repeated attempts by the
4:40Mongols to invade and some of which were
4:42successful so he's living in a place
4:44that is constantly at war or under
4:46threat of War and the Mongols would
4:48occupy a lot of his legal writing and
4:50energy in fact IB tamya wrote three
4:53fatwas or legal rulings that called for
4:56Jihad in the form of holy war or armed
4:59struggle against against the invading
5:00Mongols in these he argues for the fact
5:03that even though the Mongols may claim
5:05to be Muslims they failed to uphold
5:07Islamic ideals and should therefore be
5:09fought he even participated in the
5:11fighting as a soldier himself on the
5:13mamluk side whom he often praised as the
5:15true Defenders of Islam indeed these
5:17fotas have become quite influential
5:19today particularly the third one which
5:22is the longest and most harsh and which
5:24argues among other things that because
5:26the Mongols did not uphold Islamic law
5:28as he saw it they could be considered
5:30apostates or unbelievers and should
5:32therefore be killed this way of
5:34justifying armed Jihad by deeming others
5:37apostates or unbelievers known as takir
5:40is one of the main ideological tools of
5:42violent jihadist groups like ala or the
5:45so-called Islamic State and they often
5:48use the fatwas of IB tya in particular
5:50as inspiration similar harshness can be
5:53seen in fatwas issued by IB tya against
5:56the so-called NIS often referred to
5:58today as the Ala or alawites as well as
6:01the duus about the latter the duw he
6:04says quote they are Heretics and
6:06apostates whose repentance cannot be
6:08accepted rather they should be killed
6:10wherever they are found and they may be
6:12cursed because of what they are his
6:15writings against the noades follow a
6:17very similar line um these writings of
6:20his may appear very harsh and they were
6:22harsh they were unusually harsh for the
6:25time and iban tya actually became quite
6:27controversial during his life because he
6:30seemed to diverge from the mainstream or
6:32quote unquote Orthodox positions of
6:35other Islamic scholars both his views on
6:37Islamic law as well as his theological
6:40views and his many critiques of the
6:42sufis would earn him a lot of enemies
6:45and in fact I tya was imprisoned on
6:48multiple occasions during his life once
6:51in 1306 after being accused of tajim or
6:54corporeal ISM or anthropomorphism
6:56basically claiming that God has human
6:58attributes another time voluntarily in
7:011308 a third time in 1320 for teaching
7:04unorthodox things about divorce Oaths
7:07and a final time in 1326 because he and
7:10his students criticized the very common
7:12Sufi practice of visiting the graves of
7:15saints and it is during this last prison
7:17day in the Citadel of Damascus that I
7:20Tamia passed away in
7:221328 at the age of 65 he had spent a
7:26long life in Passionate defense of what
7:28he considered to to be a correct
7:30understanding of Islam and gathered a
7:32relatively small but significant group
7:34of followers perhaps most famously ibim
7:37Al jaia who would carry his ideas
7:39forward arguably in an even more
7:41forceful way and become a famous and
7:43important figure in his own right IB tya
7:46was not only active as a public figure
7:48and critic for example teaching in the
7:50umay mosque in Damascus and being very
7:53active and vocal in various social and
7:56religious SL political issues he was
7:59also quite a prolific writer now he
8:02didn't produce any sort of major career
8:04defining works like many of his
8:06contemporaries did um instead the
8:09written works of imia are plentiful but
8:12they are usually shorter treatises and
8:14often dedicated to very specific topics
8:17often as a kind of conversation or
8:19debate with other people so he's often
8:21responding or criticizing other Scholars
8:24or specific ideas that other Scholars
8:26have as well as WR writing specific
8:29works that criticizes specific things
8:32within the Islamic world at the time
8:34that he considered to be problematic
8:36like a cam theology certain aspects of
8:39Islamic law and certain Sufi practices
8:42let's dedicate ourselves a little bit to
8:44understanding these works and the
8:46general positions and ideas of IB tya
8:49first I think it's very beneficial to
8:51get a grasp of the context in which
8:53these ideas emerged as I mentioned in
8:56the beginning this was a traumatic time
8:58for the Muslim Community where he lived
9:00Not only was this an environment of
9:01almost constant war and Invasion but
9:04they had just experienced the fall of
9:06Bagdad and the abased caliphate the
9:09greatest symbol of Islamic political
9:11rule this must have been an almost
9:13cataclysmic event to many at the time
9:15including him Ina how in the world could
9:18seemingly some Nomads from the steps of
9:20Mongolia manage to basically decimate a
9:23major part of the Islamic World perhaps
9:25one of the greatest civilizations that
9:27the world had ever seen and in such a
9:29short time too this was the question
9:32that occupied I Tamia's mind and which I
9:34think informs his whole world view he
9:38has an answer to this question the
9:40reason that this has happened is because
9:42the Muslims have gone astray they have
9:44left the ways of the Prophet behind and
9:46instead indulge in Innovation and unlam
9:49practices in a way then the Mongol
9:52invasions is like a punishment from God
9:54because the Muslims have failed to
9:56uphold the law and the principles of the
9:58Quran and the sample of the Prophet
10:00Muhammad with this in mind we can see
10:03why IB Tamia's ideas appear so harsh and
10:06seemingly unforgiving from his point of
10:08view something was seriously wrong and
10:11needed to be changed right away or the
10:13rest of the Islamic world could face the
10:15same destruction and this is really what
10:17his whole career including his writings
10:19is about he's constantly and very
10:21forcefully arguing against any form of
10:24bidah or innovation in the religion
10:27including some of the most established
10:29structures of the tradition of Islamic
10:31law and instead urging people to return
10:34back to the pure practices and ideas of
10:37the pious predecessors the salaf in
10:40other words the companions of the
10:42Prophet Muhammad and the two succeeding
10:44Generations or at least his
10:46understanding of what these predecessors
10:48believed and practiced so what was it
10:51exactly that he criticized well a major
10:53target for his critique were the sufis
10:56they were highly responsible for
10:58introducing various Innovations to the
11:00religion according to I tya now contrary
11:03to popular belief IB tya wasn't
11:05necessarily against Sufism per se or
11:08entirely he claims on several occasions
11:11that there is room for Sufism within
11:13Islam but a Sufism that is primarily
11:16ethical and aligned with his
11:17interpretation of Islamic law he argues
11:19that certain early sufis like juned of
11:22bdad and Abdul Al jilani kept within the
11:25bounds of the law and were thus
11:27acceptable he wrote scathing critique of
11:29Sufi practices like VI the repetitious
11:32chanting of God's names a whole Treatise
11:34was dedicated to criticizing the
11:36practice of s the spiritual audition
11:38where one listens to music as a
11:40spiritual practice as well as other
11:42common Concepts like f or Annihilation
11:45where the Mystic experiences a death of
11:47the self and absorption into the Divine
11:50perhaps most controversially he was
11:52highly critical of the common practice
11:54of visiting the graves of saints this
11:58has been an incredibly wide spread
11:59practice in Muslim history and often
12:01associated with Sufism it is thought
12:04that the tomb or Shrine of a dead Sufi
12:06Saint or Prophet contains their Baraka
12:09or blessings and that one can partake in
12:11this Blessing by visiting their graves
12:13many even ask for favors or help in
12:16things in life thus letting the saint
12:18act as an intercessory figure that could
12:21increase the likelihood of God helping
12:23you to put it very simply IB Tamia and
12:25his followers were totally against this
12:27he feared that this was far too close to
12:30polytheism or idolatry and forbade it
12:33there are no places that are inherently
12:35sacred according to bamia and help can
12:37only be asked from God directly thus
12:40rejects the whole idea of intercession
12:42he writes quote I and others used to
12:45follow the doctrine of the fathers in
12:46visiting Graves we used to uphold the
12:49views of the innovators when it became
12:51clear to us what the messenger had
12:53brought we had to decide whether to
12:55follow what God had revealed or to
12:57follow what we had found our fathers
12:59doing it was obligatory to follow the
13:02messenger this position that he and his
13:04followers took was very controversial at
13:06the time Sufism at this point was
13:09basically the mainstream form of Islam
13:12and by forbidding the or by having this
13:15opinion about the visiting of graves IB
13:18and Tamia seemed to undermine the entire
13:21power and authority of the different
13:22Saints I Tamia basically forbade any
13:25form of pilgrimage to one of these
13:28Graves or shrines
13:30or any travel really with the express
13:32purpose of making one of these visits
13:34even if it was to the grave of the
13:36Prophet Muhammad in Medina himself now
13:38it wasn't completely unforgiving he did
13:41allow people to visit the shrines or
13:44Graves of prophets or certain Saints if
13:48one was traveling to some location for
13:51another purpose just basically stopping
13:53by the grave that was okay as long as
13:55one didn't ask for favors from the saint
14:00or the prophet just simply appreciating
14:03their life and remembering them and
14:05praying perhaps uh but basically taking
14:08away all the the Baraka the grace and
14:12all these other aspects that were so
14:14Central to grave visits at the time as
14:17we saw earlier IM Tamia's condemnation
14:19of this practice was one of the reasons
14:21that he was imprisoned actually it was
14:24that importance of a practice in the
14:26Islamic world at the time and we can see
14:28remnants of this View today in groups
14:30that are inspired by iban tamya such as
14:33the so-called wahhabis for example when
14:36they took over the cities of Mecca and
14:38Medina in the 20th century they
14:40basically demolished the graves and
14:43shrines of many of the prophets family
14:45members and companions because of this
14:47ideological reason we also see many
14:50violent jihadist groups today demolish
14:53shrines of different Sufi Saints for
14:55example and this all stems back to the
14:57critiques of IB tya many Sufi Affiliated
15:01Muslims at the time were outraged by his
15:03many criticisms especially after he
15:06began attacking the very
15:08populari and his major doctrines the
15:11school of this major Mystic the main
15:13idea of which has become known as or the
15:17unity of being was very popular at the
15:20time and when IB T started basically
15:22calling them Heretics by accusing them
15:24of pantheism or of stating that God and
15:27creation is one and the same thing
15:29he made a lot of enemies in a famous
15:32account the significant early leader of
15:34the Sha Sufi order IB is said to have
15:37led a group of 500 sufis to protest
15:40against ibben TAA and the two are also
15:43said to have had a formal debate it
15:45seems that it was the fact that he
15:47angered many of the Sufi so much who
15:49themselves had such a high standing in
15:51society that led to his imprisonment all
15:54of these views stems from IB Tamia's
15:56strict view of Islamic law and his
15:59constant insistence on avoiding all
16:01forms of innovation and this strict view
16:04of innovation was quite unique at the
16:06time in his own writings he claims quote
16:09the word law in the custom of the people
16:12has taken on three meanings the revealed
16:14law the interpreted law and the
16:16adulterated law the revealed law is the
16:20book and the Sunnah established by the
16:22messenger following this law is
16:24obligatory for both the earlier and the
16:26later generations of Muslims the inter
16:28intereted law is the rulings in which
16:30the scholars exercise independent
16:32reasoning or IAD it is permissible to
16:36follow the authority of a Founder among
16:38the founders of the four Sunni law
16:40schools and lastly the adulterated law
16:42includes the fabricated hadiths
16:44wrong-headed interpretations and
16:46misguiding innovations that have been
16:48introduced into the law but do not
16:50belong to it to I Tamia all forms of
16:54Innovations are wrong and belong to the
16:56category of adulterated law if a certain
16:59idea or practice was not observed by the
17:02prophet or his companions the salaf then
17:04they had no place in Islam this was not
17:08the mainstream position at the time of
17:10course one was very careful about
17:12introducing Innovations into the
17:14religion but many Innovations were seen
17:16as good Innovations and accepted on that
17:19basis they would often point to
17:21Innovations introduced after the
17:23prophet's death certain new prayers were
17:25introduced by the early cffs that was a
17:28good innovation
17:29the Quran was compiled into a physical
17:32book after The Prophet's death so that
17:34was also an innovation but a good one
17:37sufis would perhaps argue that Vicor in
17:39certain forms was an innovation but a
17:41good one that brings the practitioner
17:43closer to God but IB tamya strongly
17:46disagrees all forms of innovation are
17:49bad and there is no going around it and
17:51this was his basis for condemning many
17:53of the practices of the sufis as well as
17:56many mainstream theological ideas as we
17:58will see but this rather unique position
18:00meant that he had a very different
18:02approach to Islamic law than most
18:04Muslims at the time during his life
18:07Sunni Islamic law had since long
18:09developed into the four primary schools
18:11the hanafi Maliki shafii and hanbali to
18:14which he belonged and in general the
18:16approach to law was that of t or
18:19imitation of following already
18:22established legal presidents for example
18:24a shafii had a long tradition of
18:27previous judical argument that he could
18:28draw from and make judgments and usually
18:31he didn't have to actively go back to
18:33the original sources and interpret them
18:35again to arrive at a conclusion that job
18:38had already been done by his
18:39predecessors in his legal school now
18:42while I tya did technically belong to
18:44the hanbali school he also shows clear
18:47signs of being critical of the whole
18:49system he rejects the Reliance on or
18:52imitation and instead puts a heavy
18:55emphasis on IAD or independent
18:58interpretation
18:59not necessarily based on one's rational
19:01deductions but on going back directly to
19:04the Quran and the Sunnah and finding the
19:06answers directly there he believed that
19:08these texts had all the answers and that
19:10the pure Islam of Muhammad and the salaf
19:13could be found there by reading them
19:15directly and not by slavishly following
19:18one of the established law schools now
19:20since no human being can escape his own
19:22interpretive framework IB Tamia ends up
19:25usually interpreting these sources from
19:27a hanbali perspective nonetheless less
19:29but not always there are instances where
19:31he diverges from it and sometimes even
19:33holds opinions that none of the law
19:35schools seem to like in the famous case
19:37about divorce Oaths in any case this is
19:39the basic approach to law that I Tamia
19:42has as well as basically the fundamental
19:44core of salafism which has become so uh
19:48prominent today it is a rejection of
19:50tradition and instead the belief that
19:53one can find the more pure and original
19:56version of the religion by going back
19:59and reading the original sources indeed
20:03this rather unique approach has inspired
20:05many of the more modernist and
20:07contemporary movements within Islam as
20:09we will see later but this also informed
20:12other aspects of Tamia's thought as well
20:14for example his theological ideas now
20:17tobia theology actually was part of the
20:20more wider category of Islamic law and
20:23so the approach that he has to the
20:26Sharia the Islamic law is
20:29essentially the same that he has to the
20:32Theology of the religion as we saw in
20:35his biography he was continuously
20:37accused of corporis or anthropomorphism
20:40and even actually imprisoned because of
20:42it but where does this come from well
20:45just as he was very critical of the
20:47sufis and some of their practices so he
20:49was also critical of what he saw as
20:51doctrinal Innovations in the form of Cam
20:54Theology and
20:56philosophy cam is a word that denotes a
20:59kind of philosophical theology it is a
21:01tradition of speculative and Systematic
21:04Theology that had become very popular
21:06the most widespread School of kamam in
21:08the Sunni world the ashari School
21:10founded by Abul Hassan Al ashari
21:12represented both then and for most of
21:14History the mainstream theological
21:16position in Sunni Islam and was at the
21:19time of Iya primarily represented by the
21:22great scholar and theologian fakin arzi
21:25this kind of theology inspired by
21:27philosophical speculation and of great
21:29philosophers like Ian Cena was also a
21:32form of innovation to I tya and went
21:34against quranic descriptions of God in
21:37the kamam schools including the asharia
21:39many verses in the scriptures the Quran
21:42were read symbolically and one was very
21:45adamant to have God be completely Beyond
21:47any creaturely qualities God is totally
21:51incorporeal he is formless he's outside
21:54of time and space neither in the world
21:57nor outside it and is ultimately Beyond
22:00description so any descriptions in the
22:02Quran that seem to apply human
22:04attributes to God were read
22:06metaphorically by the cam theologians
22:09when the Quran says that God has a hand
22:11it means that he has power for example
22:14not a literal hand I Tamia responds to
22:17this approach in critical terms in his
22:20theological works such as the wasi the H
22:24the
22:26bay and the 11 volume long
22:29dud averting the conflict he attacks
22:32theologians like arzi and instead
22:34presents his own perspectives on
22:36theology these works and ideas would
22:39become Central to the theological
22:40positions of groups like The salafis and
22:43the so-called wahhabis today now again
22:46IB tamya belonged to the hanbali school
22:48who had generally rejected kamam and
22:50instead followed their own theological
22:52inclinations famously they rejected the
22:55symbolic reading of quranic verses
22:57instead of op in to take God's word for
23:00what it is and Trust in the word used in
23:02the text that doesn't mean that they had
23:03a completely anthropomorphic view of God
23:06though rather than accepting outright
23:07that God has a hand for example they
23:10argue that one should accept what the
23:12text says but not inquire further about
23:14what it means if the text says that God
23:17has a hand then we take that at face
23:19value but we don't ask what it means
23:21this is an idea that has often been
23:23known as B literally meaning without how
23:27or without asking
23:29sometimes also without modality some
23:31would argue that this still counts as
23:33anthropomorphism but it's still a bit
23:35more complicated than that it's a kind
23:38of acceptance of our ignorance regarding
23:40the nature of God and of thus trusting
23:42in the word of God without trying to use
23:45our human faulty Minds to understand
23:48what that's supposed to mean in a more
23:50real sense I tya being an adherent of
23:53this school essentially takes basically
23:55the same positions but in some respects
23:57as is usually the the case he also
23:59diverges and goes even further than his
24:01fellow hanbalis would sometimes while he
24:04never states that God has a body or
24:06human attributes as such and we should
24:08be very careful in keeping this in mind
24:10he nonetheless rejects the incorporeal
24:13and non-spatial God of the kamam
24:16scholars quote IB Tamia is decidedly
24:19empiricist he claims that nothing
24:21incorporeal and non-spatial exists
24:24outside the Mind something existing
24:27outside the Mind must be accessible to
24:29the human senses and God is no exception
24:32while God cannot be seen in this world
24:34he can be seen in dreams and he will be
24:36seen in the
24:38Hereafter I Tamia himself says quote
24:41whatever cannot be sensed with the five
24:43senses is nothing but a
24:45non-existent the generality of the salaf
24:48and those who affirm God's attributes
24:50maintain that God can be witnessed seen
24:52and sensed so IB Tam rejects
24:55metaphorical readings he wants to claim
24:58that if the Quran states that God has a
25:00hand then this is true without having to
25:02explain it away as a metaphor or
25:04something quote everything that his
25:06creatures are endowed with of perfected
25:08qualities the creator also possesses
25:11also every fault which his creatures are
25:13declared above the Creator is declared
25:16above them so all positive qualities
25:19that humans have God must have them too
25:22otherwise that would imply an
25:23imperfection in God this includes that
25:25quote IIA says that God is moving
25:28because as he argues a God who could not
25:31move on his own initiative would be
25:33inferior to creatures who can move and
25:35similar arguments are used to argue that
25:37God indeed does have hands in a literal
25:40Al it non-human sense imia is careful to
25:43point out that this doesn't mean that
25:45God has them in the way that humans do
25:47he has them in a mode of his own quote
25:50if one was to assert that God does not
25:53have a hand of the genus of created
25:54beings that is in the sense of a limb
25:57then this is true if however he claims
26:00that God's hand is not additional to
26:02these seven attributes he has grossly
26:04heard this is very important we should
26:07be careful not to claim that in a very
26:09simplistic way that imia is simply an
26:11anthropomorphous because he is very
26:13careful to point out that God is utterly
26:16different from creatures as the Quran
26:18says and that when he says that God has
26:21a hand or he sits on the throne this
26:24does not mean that he has a hand in the
26:26way that humans do Ian never claims
26:28outright that God has a body but you
26:31could see why there could be confusion
26:34but indeed in many places IB Tamia
26:36appears to go even further by applying a
26:38view of God that seems spatial and even
26:40temporal again he never outright says
26:43anything of the sort but many of his
26:45descriptions seem to point in that
26:47direction as explained by scholar John
26:49Hoover IIA states that God is definitely
26:52over and above folk or thus outside of
26:56the universe God in fact surrounds the
26:59universe and is described not as
27:01non-spatial as the kamam scholars would
27:04but as enormous in size quote it must be
27:07known that the upper and lower worlds
27:09relative to the Creator exalted as he is
27:12extremely small God exalted is he
27:15surrounds all created things in a manner
27:17that befits his majesty for the seven
27:20heavens and the Earth in his hand or
27:22smaller than a chickpea in the hand of
27:24one of us he also conceives of God as
27:27acting and interacting in a temporal
27:29sense he hears prayers when they are
27:31uttered and not in some Eternal moment
27:34outside of time thus he seemed to hold
27:37the opinion that God exists within time
27:39and space both as having a kind of form
27:42by stating that he's much larger than
27:44creation and within time through acting
27:47and willing temporally understanding I
27:49Tamia's theology is a complex thing of
27:52course there are different Scholars who
27:54still debate this issue to a very large
27:57degree some still want to call him
27:59basically an anthropomorphous or
28:00corporalist in a very simplistic way
28:02other Scholars argue that he definitely
28:05isn't one and that his views are
28:07significantly more nuanced but I'll
28:09leave the discussion at that in any case
28:12you can see that he holds positions that
28:14were interpreted by some of his
28:15contemporaries as quite shocking and it
28:18all goes back to that same fundamental
28:20idea of rejecting Innovations in law and
28:22Theology and instead only following the
28:25beliefs of the salaf whom he considered
28:27to have hel the same ideas that he
28:30exposed it all comes down to worship man
28:33was made to worship God and he
28:35understands religion and theology from
28:37this perspective the Muslim proclamation
28:40of faith for example ill is not some
28:43ontological Claim about the nature of
28:45reality as many sufis claimed it is a
28:48simple command to worship God alone and
28:51worship is done by following the law
28:53exactly as laid down in the Quran and in
28:55the practice of the prophets and the
28:57salaf
28:58I tya was a divisive and polarizing
29:01figure both during his lifetime and
29:03still today he made a lot of enemies
29:06through his criticism of key Islamic
29:08institutions and his unique approach to
29:10law and theology he did have a group of
29:13devoted followers most notably ibim jaia
29:16but in reality he wasn't all that
29:18successful in the immediate aftermath of
29:20his life the were a group of people
29:23mostly from the hanbal school and a few
29:25others here and there who selectively
29:27took inspiration from from some of his
29:28writings but he didn't have any massive
29:30impact on the Islamic intellectual world
29:33for the first few centuries his
29:35popularity and influence really only
29:36started to pick up in the last few
29:38hundred years it has inspired several
29:41revivalist movements within Islam from
29:43the Wabi movement of Muhammad IBN Abdul
29:46wahab in the 18th century to the salafis
29:49of the last 100 years or so IB tamya has
29:51come to have an enormous influence today
29:54his strict and fundamentalist view on
29:57Islamic practice has attracted a lot of
29:59people who have wanted to reform the
30:01religion from the modernist movements in
30:03the late 19th century to the violent
30:06jihadist groups in the Middle East they
30:08have all benefited from his unique
30:09approach and that's the thing we
30:11shouldn't simplistically connect him
30:13only to things like salafism his
30:16anti-traditional
30:20interpretation rather than simply
30:22adhering to T or imitation of legal
30:24presidents and to find a more pure
30:27original version of the religion this
30:29has also influenced various Progressive
30:32movements in the religion that we find
30:33today so regardless of your perspective
30:36on his ideas you can't deny that IB tya
30:39is probably one of the most influential
30:41historical thinkers for the Contemporary
30:44Islamic world in the words of John
30:46Hoover quote in addition to the salafis
30:49modernist and revivalist have drawn on
30:52IB tya to present visions of Islam open
30:54to the Contemporary world the Pakistani
30:57modernist F Rahman writes approvingly of
31:00IB Tamia's reinjection of divine wise
31:02purpose into mainstream Islamic thought
31:05and he commends his ethical
31:06reformulation of Sufism for modern
31:09Muslim reform theat based revivalist
31:12yusf Al karwi invokes I Tamia's
31:14utilitarianism and political pragmatism
31:17to encourage Muslims to engage
31:19constructively in Democratic and
31:21pluralist societies he is a charismatic
31:24figure with a wide influence and he is
31:27still polarizing to this very day I'll
31:31see you next
31:32time I would like to express my deepest
31:35gratitude to all of my patrons who keep
31:37this channel going through their support
31:39thank you all so much
31:44[Music]

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