Ibn Taymiyya is a servant which Allâh forsook, misguided, blinded, deafened, and debased. That is the declaration of the Imâms who have exposed the corruption of his positions and the mendacity of his sayings. Whoever wishes to pursue this must read the words of the mujtahid imâm Abû al-H.asan al-Subkî, of his son Tâj al-Dîn Subkî, of the Imâm al-`Izz ibn Jamâ`a and others of the Shâfi`î, Mâlikî, and H.anafî shaykhs… It must be considered that he is a misguided and misguiding innovator (mubtadi` d.âll mud.ill) and an ignorant fanatic (jâhilun ghâlin) whom Allâh treated with His justice. May He protect us from the likes of his path, doctrine, and actions!… Know that he has differed from people on questions about which Tâj al-Dîn Ibn al-Subkî and others warned us. Among the things Ibn Taymiyya said which violate the scholarly consensus are:• that whoso violates the consensus commits neither disbelief (kufr) nor grave transgression (fisq);
• that our Lord is subject to created events (mah.allun li al-h.awâdith) – glorified, exalted, and sanctified is He far beyond what the depraved ascribe to Him!
• that He is complex or made of parts (murakkab), His Essence standing in need similarly to the way the whole stands in need of the parts, elevated is He and sanctified beyond that!
• that the Qur’ân is created in the Essence of Allâh (muh.dath fî dhâtillâh), elevated is He beyond that!
• that the world is of a pre-eternal nature and exists with Allâh since pre-eternity as an “ever-abiding created object” (makhlûqan dâ’îman), thus making it necessarily existent in His Essence (mûjaban bi al-dhât) and [making Him] not acting deliberately (la fâ`ilan bi al-ikhtyâr), elevated is He beyond that!
• his suggestions of the corporeality, direction, and displacement [of Allâh (swt)] (al-jismiyya wa al-jiha wa al-intiqâl), and that He fits the size of the Throne, being neither bigger nor smaller, exalted is He from such a hideous invention and wide-open disbelief, and may He forsake all his followers, and may all his beliefs be scattered and lost!
• his saying that the Fire shall go out (al-nâr tafnî),
• and that Prophets are not sinless (al-anbiyâ’ ghayr ma`s.ûmîn),
• and that the Prophet has no special status before Allâh (la jâha lahu) and must not be used as a means (la yutawassalu bihi),
• and that the undertaking of travel (al-safar) to the Prophet in order to perform his visitation is a sin, for which it is unlawful to shorten the prayers, and that it is forbidden to ask for his intercession in view of the Day of Need,
• and that the words (alfâz.) of the Torah and the Gospel were not substituted, but their meanings (ma`ânî) were.
Some said: “Whoever looks at his books does not attribute to him most of these positions, except that whereby he holds the view that Allâh (swt) has a direction, and that he authored a book to establish this, and forces the proof upon the people who follow this school of thought that they are believers in Divine corporeality (jismiyya), dimensionality (muh.âdhât), and settledness (istiqrâr).” That is, it may be that at times he used to assert these proofs and that they were consequently attributed to him in particular.
But whoever attributed this to him from among the Imâms of Islâm upon whose greatness, leadership, religion, trustworthiness, fairness, acceptance, insight, and meticulousness there is agreement – then they do not say anything except what has been duly established with added precautions and repeated inquiry. This is especially true when a Muslim is attributed a view which necessitates his disbelief, apostasy, misguidance, and execution. Therefore if it is true of him that he is a disbeliever and an innovator, then Allâh will deal with him with His justice, and other than that He will forgive us and him.