Between Salafi and Sufi: Ibn Taimiyyah’s critique of al-Qusyairi’s Views on Sufism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21111/tsaqafah.v19i2.9618Keywords:
Abstract
This article discusses two sects that are often contrasted: Salafi and Sūfī. It focuses on the views of Ibn Taimiyyah al-Harrānī as a representative of Salafi and ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Qusyairī of Sūfī-sunnī on Sufism. By analyzing the works of Ibn Taimiyyah and al-Qusyairī on Sufism, this article explores Ibn Taimiyah’s critical notes on al-Qusyairi's views on Sufism. Ibn Taimiyyah wrote no less than thirty-eight treatises on Sufism and cited more than forty Sūfī texts in explaining and analyzing his views on Sufism. Al-Qusyairī, on the other hand, describes in detail the Sūfī figures and their views in his Risālah. He also included his Sufistic analyses in Laṭāif al-Ishārāt. Using an interpretative approach and content analysis, this article finds that Ibn Taimiyyah did not reject Sufism. He rejected the practice of Sufism that he thought was not intertwined with the Qur’ān and Sunnah. This is evident from his respect for al-Qusyairī, whom he called al-Syaikh al-Ustāż, and Mutaṣawwifah Ahl al-Kalām, a term of honor within the Ṣūfī order. Nonetheless, Ibn Taimiyyah notes that al-Qusyairī’s quotations in his work are not followed by references and explanations. In explaining the practice of zuhd, al-Qusyairī did not provide examples from the ṣahābah and tābi’īn to strengthen his argument.Downloads
References
Abū Zahrah, Muḥammad. Ibn Taimiyyah: Ḥayātuhu Wa ‘Aṣruhu Wa Ārā’Uhu Wa Fiqhuhu. Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabī, 1991.
———, ed. Usbūʿ Al-Fiqh Al-Islāmī Wa-Mahrajān Al-Imām Ibn Taimiyyah (1380/1961: Damascus). Kairo: al-Majlis al-Aʿlā li-Riʿāyat al-Funūn wa-l-Ādāb wa-l-ʿUlūm al-Ijtimāʿiyya, 1963.
Adem, Rodrigo. “The Intellectual Genealogy of Ibn Taymīya.” The University of Chicago, 2015.
Al-‘Arabī, Abū Bakr Ibn. Al-‘Awāṣim Min Al-Qawāṣim. Saudi Arabia: Wazārah al-Syu’ūn al-Islāmiyyah wa al-Awqāf wa al-Da‘wah wa al-Irsyād, 1998.
Al-‘Asqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. Al-Durar Al-Kāminah Fī A‘Yān Al-Mi’an Al-Ṡāminah. Hyderabad: Dāirah al-Ma‘ārif al-‘Uṡmāniyyah, n.d.
Al-‘Aẓmah, ‘Azīz. Ibn Taymiyyah. Beirut: Riad El-Rayyes Books ltd., 2000.
Al-‘Imrān, ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad. Al-Jāmi’ Li Sīrah Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah (661-728) Khilāl Sab’a Qurūn. Edited by Muḥammad ‘Uzair Syams and ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad Al-‘Imrān. Riyāḍ: Dār ‘Aṭā’āt al-‘Ilm, 2019.
Al-Aṡarī, ‘Alī ibn Ḥasan al-Ḥalabī. ’Asyru Rasā’il Ḥaula Syakhṣiyyah Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah Wa Turāṡuhu Al-‘Ilmī. Ammān: Al-Dār al-Aṣariyyah, 2022.
Al-Aṣfahānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh. Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā’. Edited by Saʿīd Saʿd Al-Dīn Al-ʿArabī Al-Iskandarī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāṡ al-ʿArabī, 2001.
Al-Bakrī, Ṭāriq al-Sayyid Muṣṭafā. Ibn Taimiyyah Wa Mauqifuhu Min Al-Turāṡ Al-Ṣūfī. Riyāḍ: Dār Ibn al-Jauzī, 2020.
Al-Barrāk, ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad. Al-Manṡūr Min Sīrah Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah: Syażarātun Mustalatun Min Ghairi Maẓānnihā. Riyāḍ: Dār al-Muḥaddiṡ, 2022.
Al-Dawādārī, Abū Bakr ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aibak. Kanz Al-Durar Wa Jāmi‘ Al-Gharar. Edited by Ulrich Hermann, Muḥammad al-Sa‘īd Jamāl Al-Dīn, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Al-Munajjid, Sa‘īd ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ ‘Asyūr, and Bernd Radtke. Kairo: Qism al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah al-Ma‘had al-‘Almānī lil-Āṡār, 1982.
Al-Ghāmidī, Badr ibn Sa‘īd. Masrad Al-Dirāsāt ‘an Ibn Taimiyyah Wa ‘Ulūmih: Ma‘a Laṭā’If Fī Sīratih. Riyāḍ: Markaz al-Bayān, 2017.
Al-Ḥanbalī, Mar‘ī ibn Yūsuf al-Karmī, Muḥammad Al-Baiṭār, and Muḥammad Khalīl Harās. Ṣalāṡah Kutub Fī Tarjamah Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah. Doha: Dār al-Imām al-Bukhārī, 2016.
Al-Hujwirī. Kasyf Al-Maḥjūb. Edited by Aḥmad ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Al-Sāyiḥ and Taufīq ‘Alī Wahbah. Kairo: Maktabah al-Ṡaqāfah al-Dīniyyah, 2007.
Al-Kalābāżī, Abū Bakr. Al-Ta‘arruf Li Mażhab Al-Taṣawwuf. Kairo: Dār al-Ittiḥād al-‘Arabī, 1969.
Al-Khar‘ān, Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh ib Ibrāhīm. Sīrah Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah Kamā Rawāhā Tilmīżudu Ibn Kaṡīr Fī Kitābihi: Al-Bidāyah Wa Al-Nihāyah. Riyāḍ, 2021.
Al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī, Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī ibn Ṡābit. Tārīkh Madīnah Al-Islām: Tārīkh Baghdād Wa Żailuhu Al-Mustafād. Edited by Basyār ‘Awād Ma‘rūf. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2001.
Al-Kubrā, Al-Ṭabaqāt, and ‘Abd al-Wahhāb Al-Sya‘rānī. Al-Ṭabaqāt Al-Kubrā. Edited by Aḥmad ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Al-Sāyiḥ and Taufīq ‘Alī Wahbah. Kairo: Maktabah al-Ṡaqāfah al-Dīniyyah, 2005.
Al-Makkī, Abū Ṭālib. Qūt Al-Qulūb. Edited by Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Muḥammad Al-Riḍwān. Kairo: Maktabah Dār al-Turāṡ, 2001.
Al-Matroudi, Abdul Hakim. “Ibn Taymiyyah’s Evaluation of Istihsan in the Hanbali School of Law.” Islamic Studies 47, no. 2 (2008): 155–72.
Al-Mazīdī, Aḥmad Farīd. Al-Imām Al-Junaid: Sayyid Al-Ṭāifatain. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2006.
Al-Muḥāsibī, Al-Ḥāriṡ ibn Asad. Al-Ri‘āyah Li Ḥuqūq Allāh. Edited by ‘Abd al-Qādir Aḥmad ‘Aṭā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, n.d.
Al-Mulqin, Ibn. Ṭabaqāt Al-Auliyā’. Edited by Nūr al-Dīn Syarībah. Maktabah al-Khānjī, 1994.
Al-Qusyairī, Abū al-Qāsim. Al-Qushayri’s Epistle on Sufism. Translated by Alexander D Knysh. U.K.: Garnet Publishing, 2007.
———. Al-Risālah Al-Qusyairiyyah. Edited by ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd. Kairo: Dār al-Ta’līf, 1966.
———. Das Sendschreiben Al-Qušayrīs Über Das Sufitum. Translated by Richard Gramlich. Wiesbaden: F. Steiner Verlag, 1989.
———. Laṭā’if Al-Isyārāt. Edited by Ibrāhīm Al-Basiyūnī. Kairo: Hai’ah al-Kitāb, 2000.
Al-Rāziq, Muṣṭafā ‘Abd, and Louis Massignon. Al-Taṣawwuf. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-Lubnānī, 1984.
Al-Ṣafadī, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Khalīl ibn Aibak. Al-Wāfī Bi Al-Wafayāt. Edited by Aḥmad Al-Arnaūṭ. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāṡ al-‘Arabī, 2000.
Al-Samhūrī, Rā’id. “‘Al-Mukhtalif’ Fī Al-Fikr Al-Islāmī: Muqārabah Tārīkhiyyah Taḥlīliyyah Fī Mauqif Ibn Taimiyyah Min Al-Mukhtalaf Al-Dīnī Al-Qarīb Wa Al-Ba‘Īd.” International Islamic University Malaysia, 2021.
al-Shawkānī, Muḥammad b ʿAlī. “Al-Badr Al-Ṭāliʿ Bi Maḥāsin Man Baʿd Al-Qarn Al-Sābiʿ.” Maṭbaʿat al-saʿāda Cairo, 1930.
Al-Subkī, Taj al-Dīn, and Maḥmūd Muḥammad Al-Ṭanāḥī. Ṭabaqāt Al-Syāfi‘iyyah Al-Kubrā. Edited by Maḥmūd Muḥammad Al-Ṭanāḥī and ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ Al-Ḥulw. Faiṣal ‘Īsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1964.
Al-Suhrāwardī. ‘Awārif Al-Ma‘Ārif. Edited by Aḥmad ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Al-Sāyiḥ and Taufīq ‘Alī Wahbah. Kairo: Maktabah al-Ṡaqāfah al-Dīniyyah, 2006.
al-Sulamī, Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Ṭabaqāt Al-Ṣūfiyyah. Edited by Muṣṭafā ‘Abd al-Qādir ‘Atā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2003.
Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Ṭabaqāt Al-Mufassirīn. Kuwait: Dār al-Nawādir, 1960.
Al-Ṭūsī, Naṣr ‘Abd Allāh bin ‘Alī bin al-Sarrāj. Al-Luma‘. Edited by ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd. Kairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Ḥadīṡah, 1960.
Al-Żahabī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Al-Iʿlām Bi-Wafayāt Al-Aʿlām, 1993.
———. Kitāb Tażkirat Al-Huffāż. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1998.
al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī Ibn Ḥajar, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bāz, Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī, and Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb. Fatḥ Al-Bārī Bi-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī. Dār al-Maʿrifa, n.d.
Algar, Hamid. “Introduction.” In Principles of Sufism, translated by B. R. von Schlegell and 1990. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1990.
Amitai, Reuven. “The Mongol Occupation of Damascus in 1300: A Study of Mamluk Loyalties.” In The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society, edited by A Levanoni and M Winter, 21–41. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Badawī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Syaṭaḥāt Al-Ṣūfiyyah. Kuwait: Wakālah al-Maṭbū‘āt, 1987.
Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. The Book in Mamluk Egypt and Syria (1250-1517). Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Berkey, Jonathan. “Culture and Society during the Late Middle Ages.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt: Volume 1: 640–1517, edited by Carl F Petry, 1:375–411. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Bori, Caterina. “A New Source for the Biography of Ibn Taymiyya.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 67, no. 3 (October 2004): 321–48.
El-Merheb, Mohamad. Political Thought in the Mamluk Period: The Unnecessary Caliphate. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
El-Rouayheb, Khaled. “From Ibn Ḥajar Al-Haytamī (d. 1566) to Khayr Al-Dīn Al-Ālūsī (d. 1899): Changing Views of Ibn Taymiyya among Non-Ḥanbalī Sunni Scholars.” In Times, 269–318, n.d.
Ephrat, Daphna. Sufi Masters and the Creation of Saintly Spheres in Medieval Syria. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2021.
Ghanī, Qāsim. Tārīkh Al-Taṣawwuf Fī Al-Islām. Damaskus: Dār Ninawā, 2017.
Ḥilmī, Muṣṭafā. Ibn Taimiyya Wa Al-Taṣawwuf. Alexandria: Dār al-Da’wah, 1982.
Ibn ’Abd Al-Hādī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Al-‘Uqūd Al-Durriyyah Min Manāqib Syaikh Al-Islām Aḥmad Ibn Taimiyyah. Edited by ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad Al-‘Imrān and Muḥammad ‘Uzayr Syams. Riyāḍ: Dār ‘Aṭā’āt al-‘Ilm, 2019.
Ibn Kaṡīr, Abū al-Fidā’ Ismā‘īl. Al-Bidāyah Wa Al-Nihāyah. Edited by Riyāḍ ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd Murād and Muḥammad Ḥassān ‘Ubaid. Beirut: Dār Ibn Kaṡīr, 2010.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jauzīyyah, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr. Al-Wābil Al-Ṣayyib Wa Raf‘ Al-Kalim Al-Ṭayyib. Edited by ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥasan Qā’id. beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2019.
———. Samā‘Āt Ibn Al-Qayyim Min Syaikh Al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah Wa Musyāhadātuhu Wa Ḥikāyātuhu Li Faḍā’Ilihi Wa Manāqibihi Wa Aḥwālihi. Edited by Suhail ibn ‘Abd Allāh Al-Sardī. Beirut: Dār al-Nawādir, 2010.
Ibn Rajab, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Syihāb. Kitāb Al-Żail ʿalā Ṭabaqāt Al-Ḥanābilah. Kairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Sunnah al-Muḥammadiyyah, 1952.
Ibn Taimiyyah, Aḥmad ibn ’Abd al Ḥalīm. Al-Istighāṡah Fī Al-Radd ‘alā Al-Bakrī. Edited by ‘Abd Allāh ibn Dujain Al-Sahlī. Riyāḍ: Dār al-Waṭan, 1997.
———. Al-Istiqāmah. Edited by Muḥammad Rasyād Sālim. Riyāḍ: Jāmi’ah al-Imām Muḥammad ibn Sa’ūd, n.d.
———. Al-Kalim Al-Ṭayyib. Edited by Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn Al-Albānī. Riyāḍ: Maktabah al-Ma‘ārif li al-Nasyr wa al-Tauzī‘, 2001.
———. Al-Zuhd Wa Al-Warā’ Wa Al-‘Ibādah. Edited by Ḥammād Salāmah. Beirut: Dār al-Manār, n.d.
———. Kitāb Al-Nubuwwāt. Edited by ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Ṣāliḥ Al-Ṭauyān. Riyāḍ: Aḍwā‘ al-Salaf, 2000.
———. Majmū‘Ah Al-Rasā’Il Wa Al-Masā’il. Edited by Muḥammad Rasyīd Riḍā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, n.d.
———. Majmū’ Fatāwā Syaikh Al-Islām Aḥmad Ibn Taimiyyah. Edited by ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad Ibn Qāsim and Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muḥammad Ibn Qāsim. Riyāḍ: Maṭābi‘ al-Riyāḍ, 2004.
Irwin, Robert. The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250–1382. London and Sydney: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986.
Karamustafa, Ahmet T. Sufism: The Formative Period. University of California Press, 2007.
Khallikān, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn, and Iḥsān ʿAbbās. Wafayāt Al-Aʿyān Wa-Anbāʾ Abnāʾ Al-Zamān. Dār Ṣādir, n.d.
Knysh, Alexander. Islamic Mysticism. Leiden: BRILL, 2000.
Krawietz, Birgit, and Georges Tamer, eds. Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013.
Laoust, Henri. “La biographie d’ibn Taimīya d’après Ibn Katīr.” Bulletin d’études orientales 9 (1942): 115–62.
Little, Donald P. “Religion under the Mamluks.” The Muslim World 73, no. 3–4 (October 1983): 165–81.
———. “The Historical and Historiographical Significance of the Detention of Ibn Taymiyya.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 4, no. 3 (1973): 311–27.
Maghribi, Hamdan. “Rekonstruksi Taṣawuf Ibn Taimiyyah: Tinjauan Epistemologis.” UIN Walisongo Semarang, 2022.
Maghribi, Hamdan, Alfina Hidayah, and Arikhah. “Ibn Taimiyyah Dan Rancang Bangun Taṣawuf Salafi.” Esoterik: Jurnal Akhlak Dan Tasawuf 08, no. 02 (2022): 193–216. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.21043/esoterik.v8i2.16509.
Maghribi, Hamdan, Abbas Sofwan Matlail Fajar, and Alfina Hidayah. “The Contextual Origin of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Thought on Jihad.” Progresiva : Jurnal Pemikiran Dan Pendidikan Islam 12, no. 01 (June 5, 2023). https://doi.org/10.22219/progresiva.v12i01.25062.
Maḥmūd, ‘Abd al-Qādir. Al-Falsafah Al-Ṣūfiyyah Fī Al-Islām: Maṣādiruhā Wa Naẓariyyātuhā Wa Makānatuha Min Al-Dīn Wa Al-Ḥayāt. Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-‘Arabī, 1967.
Mohammad Akram Nadwi. Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam. Oxford: Interface Publications Ltd., 2007.
Mojaddedi, Jawid A. The Biographical Tradition in Sufism: The Tabaqāt Genre from Al-Sulamī to Jāmī. Richmond: Curzon Press, 2001.
Moon, Farzana. Prophet Muhammad: The First Sufi of Islam. Garnet Publishing, 2013.
Nguyen, Martin. Sufi Master and Qur’an Scholar, Abu’l-Qasim Al-Qushayri and the Lata’if Al-Isharat. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Nguyen, Martin, and Francesco Chiabotti. “The Textual Legacy of Abū L-Qāsim Al-Qušayrī: A Bibliographic Record.” Arabica 61, no. 3–4 (April 23, 2014): 339–95.
Nguyen, Martin, and Matthew Ingalls. “Introduction: Al-Qushayrī and His Legacy.” Journal of Sufi Studies 2, no. 1 (2013): 1–6.
Northrup, Linda. “The Bahrī Mamlūk Sultanate, 1250-1390.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt: Volume 1: 640–1517, edited by Carl F Petry, 1:242–89. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Routledge Handbook on Sufism. New York: Routledge, 2020.
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 TSAQAFAH
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The author whose published manuscript approved the following provisions:
- The right of publication of all material published in the journal / published in the Tsaqafah is held by the editorial board with the knowledge of the author (moral rights remain the author of the script).
- The formal legal provisions for access to digital articles of this electronic journal are subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which means that Tsaqafah reserves the right to save, transmit media or format, Database), maintain, and publish articles without requesting permission from the Author as long as it keeps the Author's name as the owner of Copyright.
- Printed and electronic published manuscripts are open access for educational, research and library purposes. In addition to these objectives, the editorial board shall not be liable for violations of copyright law.
- It is a serious offense for anyone to publish any article of Tsaqafah without permission.
