The Edict of Sultan Muhammad Ibn Qalawun Regarding Ibn Taymiyyah

01 Mar, 2016
This is a translation of the Edict of the honorable Sultan Nasir al-Dunya wa Deen,
Muhammad Ibn Qalawun. It was read over the minbar of Masjid Jami Dimashq on
Friday, in the year 705H:
Bismillah al-Rahman Al-Raheem. Alhamdulillah, Who is clear of having a thing or
one similar or equal to Him. Allah said:
Laysa kamithlihi shay, wa huwa Sami al-Baseer.
Nothing resembles Him; yet He is the one who hears and sees everything.
I thank Him for inspiring us to act in accords with the Sunnah and the Book, and for
lifting in our days reasons for doubt and suspicion. I declare that there is no God
except Allah, alone without any partner, a shahada of someone who hopes by his
sincerity a good ending, and declares that his Creator is clear of occupying a place
in accordance with the saying of Allah:
Wa huwa maakum ayna ma kuntum, wallah bima tamaluna Basir
He is with you (with His knowledge) wherever you are, and Allah sees what you do.
I testify that Muhammad is his slave and Messenger who clarified the route of safety
for whoever followed the path of pleasing Him, and who ordered contemplating
about the blessings of Allah and forbade thinking about the Self of Allah. May Allah
send prayers and peace upon Prophet Muhammad and may Allah have mercy upon
his Companions by whom the banner of Iman rose, and through whom Allah codified
the rules of Deen, and by whom Allah extinguished the word of whoever deviated
from the Haqq and leaned towards innovations.
The Islamic creed, the regarded rules of al-Islam, the Usul al-Din, and the
acceptable Madhhabs of this religion are the bases upon which things are built, and
the reference to which everyone resorts, and the route that whoever follows will
succeed greatly and whoever deviates from is deserving of a painful torture.
Therefore, they must be carried out, their permanence considered with harmony,
the agitations of innovations extinguished and what gathered of their groups
dispersed.
In our time, Ibn Taymiyyah spread his pen, and by his ignorance he extended the
reins of his words. He talked about issues of the Self and attributes of Allah, and
talked in his invalid words about rejected matters. Additionally, he spoke in regards
what the sahabah and tabiun kept silent about, and about what the righteous salaf
wrote against and what the aimmah of al-Islam renounced and what deviated from
what the Ijma of the aimmah and rulers had determined. He spread in the regions

his fatwa which fooled the minds of the lay people and disagreed with the fuqaha of
his time, and the ulama of Levant and Egypt. He sent his letters to every place and
gave his fatawa names which have no evidence from what Allah revealed to his
Prophet.
When this reached us and what his followers followed of these corrupt routes and
showed these conditions and spread them, and we knew that he exploited the
ignorance of his people and they obeyed him until it was said that he attributed to
Allah, letter, sound, similarity to others, and a body, then we, for the sake of Allah
stood up cautious of this news and renounced this bidah. It pained us to have this
infamy spread in our kingdom. We hated what the false people uttered and recited
the saying of Allah, the Exalted:
SubhanAllah amma yusifun.
Glory to Allah; He is clear of what they describe.
He, subhana wa taala is clear of a match or equal as He says:
La tudrikuhul absaru wa huwa yadrikul absara wa huwa Latiful khabir
He is not known by His creation, yet he knows about them.
He is the one who knows the apparent and hidden matters of His creation.
Our edict summoned Ibn Taymiyyah to our high doors when his false fatwa spread in
our Levant and Egypt and in them he declared words which when read by any
person with a sound mind, he would recite the ayah:
Laqad jita shayan nukra
You have brought an enormity.
When he arrived to us, we approached the people in charge and those of
authentication and reporting. The judges of al-Islam, the rulers of the people, the
scholars of the religion, and the fuqaha of the Muslims came. An Islamic court was
conducted for him in the presence of people and a group of aimmah, and those
who have knowledge in hearing and refuting. Everything attributed to Ibn
Taymiyyah by the saying of whoever is reliable and by his own handwriting which
indicates his belief was shown to them. The assembling people departed renouncing
his wicked belief, taking him by what his pen testified, reciting the ayah:
Satuktabu shahadatuhum wa yusalun
Their testimony will be written down and they will be asked.
It was reported to us that he had been ordered to repent many times. However, he
returned (to his deviant beliefs) after he had been prohibited.

In the court of al-Hakim al-Aziz al-Maliki, the ruling of the honorable Shariah was
passed to have Ibn Taymiyyah put in prison and to be prevented from disposing of
such matters to the public. Our edict writes that no one is to follow what the
aforementioned person followed and it forbids imitating believing the like or saying
it, or listening to his words imitating him in tashbih (likening Allah to His creation),
or to utter what he uttered about the direction of spatial highness or to speak about
letter or sound, or to speak at leisure about the Self or attribute or utter any tajsim
or utter anything about that which is not correct, or to dissent from the opinions of
the aimmah, or to be alone of an opinion away from the scholars of the Ummah, or
to attribute to Allah a direction or to allude to Him a place and manner. This belief
will receive nothing but the sword.
Let everyone stop at his limit! Everything before and after this is by the will of Allah.
Let the Hanabilah leave his belief and leave the serious, deviant, suspected matters
and abide by what Allah taala ordered of holding to the praised madhhabs of the
people of Iman. Whoever dissents from the order of Allah has lost the way and does
not deserve except torture, and his residence should be the long imprisonment; how
bad a residence it is.
We decreed that it should be called out in the protected Damascus, the Levant
countries and other close and far areas with a serious forbiddance and threat to
whoever follows Ibn Taymiyyah in this matter which we have clarified. Whoever
follows him will be put in a similar place and will be regarded by the Ummah as he
was. Those who insist to refuse our order and insist on defending him will be
ordered to be dropped from their schools and offices and be put down from their
offices and humiliated. They will have no place judging, ruling, in governance,
teaching, testimony, imamah, rank or even residence in our countries. We have
removed the call of this man from the countries and we have refuted the belief by
which he led or almost led astray many people. How many people did he lead
astray, who then corrupted others? Let the Islamic reports be affirmed to the
Hanabilah to leave that out and let the reports after its affirmation to be carried out
by the Maliki judges. Since we heave warned, we have left no excuse we have been
fair. Let our edict be read on the minbars to be the best admonisher and restrainer,
and the most just forbidder, by the Will of Allah. Praise be to Allah alone, and His
prayers and peace be upon His Prophet, and the sahabah of the Prophet.
The certified reference is upon the above mentioned honorable writing. It was
written on the eighteenth of Ramadan in the year 705H.
http://www.darultahqiq.com/the-edict-of-sultan-muhammad-ibn-qalawun-regardingibn-taymiyyah/