In terms of his service to the Deen, his rival, Allama Subki,
had many debates with him on several juristic issues and
says, “I am fully aware that Ibn Taymiyya is an erudite scholar,
his knowledge is profound and deep in all the religious
and secular sciences; he is mature in thought and sparkling
in intellect; I also know that his scholarship is beyond all
praise” (Saviors of the Islamic Spirit, vol. II, p.63).
On the other end, one of his biographers, Imam Abu Hafs
al-Bazzar says, “As for his worshipfulness, it is rare to find the
likes of him since he devoted most of his time, to the extent that he
never allowed any preoccupation to engross him from Allah, neither
family nor wealth. In the night, he remained in solitude away
from the people and seclusion with Allah in humbleness, constant in
recitation of Qur’an, busy in different types of nocturnal and daily
devotions. When the night had passed and he was with the people,
he started praying Fajr, which he preceded by the Sunna of Fajr.
When he pronounced everything haram with the commencement
of salat, it seemed as though the hearts would shatter by the awe
of his takbir tahrima. Once he entered into salat, his muscles would
contract until he would sway right and left… (al-A‘lam al-‘Aliyya,
1/36).
Read carefully the short but comprehensive panegyric by
a contemporary scholar and student of Ibn Taymiyya after
his death. Abu al-‘Abbas ‘Ahmad bin Ibrahim al-Wasiti says:
Our Shaykh, the Leader, the Imam, the Exemplar,
the Ascetic, the Reviver of the Sunna, the
Uprooter of innovations, the Helper of hadith,
the Mufti of the sects, the Opener of realities,
the Inclusive of the outward and the inward, who
adjudicated on haqq outwardly and whose heart
dwelled in the sublime; the Model of the Khulafa’
Rashideen whose way of life has disappeared from
the hearts, and his way and path, the Umma has forgotten;
one who examined their mode to follow it… I
swear by Allah, then I swear by Allah, and then
I swear by Allah, none has seen the likes of him
in knowledge, in state (of heart), in conduct, and
in adherence, in prestige and forbearance in matters
concerning himself, and one who guarded the
haqq when it was breached, the most truthful in his
promise, the most authentic in knowledge and
conviction, the most elevated in advocating for
haqq and its establishment, the most generous in
giving, and consummate in his adherence to the
Sunna of his Prophet, Muhammad a…( al-‘Uqud
al-Dariyya fi Manaqib Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyya, 1/310).
Salahuddin Ayyubi
The anonymous quote, “The paths to Allah are as many as
the number of His creation” (Mirqat al-Mafateeh, al-Aml wa
al-Hirs) means that the ways to reach Allah are uncountable.
To limit salvation to the sciences, books, to pedagogy, and
gatherings of knowledge is circumscribing the breadth of
that province. The Ansar got it through their nusra (supporting)
the cause of Islam, while the Muhajir by their migration
in the name of Allah. And others achieved it in other ways.
As for Salahuddin Ayyubi, he reached Allah in the same way
as Khalid bin al-Walid g. His exploits against the crusaders
and retaking of Jerusalem in 1181 are legendary, and none of
even the most biased historians have doubted his chivalry
and military genius. Still, more outstanding was his devotion
to justice and humanity, indicating his strong connection
with Allah, which is evidenced in the famous hadith
about the seven people who will be shaded under the throne
of Allah, one of whom is the upright leader (Bukhari). As the
Sultan, he could have manipulated his power and joined the
lot of despots and tyrants, but the man that fears Allah will
only adorn himself with justice and haqq.
The Arabic saying goes, “Greatness is that to which the
enemy attests.” Christian historians acclaimed Salahuddin
Ayyubi as a just commander, and often compare his conquest
of Jerusalem in 1187 to the massacre by the crusaders
in 1099. Stanley Lane Poole, the lexicographer and historian,
says,
“Thus, did the Saracens show mercy to the fallen
city. One recalls the savage conquest by the first
Crusaders in 1099, when Godfrey and Tancred
rode the streets choked with the dead and dying,
when defenseless Moslems were tortured, burnt,
and shot down in cold blood on the towers and roof
of the Temple, when the blood of wanton massacre
defiled the honor of Christendom and stained the
scene where once the gospel of love and mercy had
been preached. “Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy” was a forgotten beatitude when
the Christians made shambles of the Holy City.
Fortunate were the merciless, for they obtained
mercy at the hands of Moslem Sultan…If the taking
of Jerusalem was the only fact known about Saladin, it
would be enough to prove him the most chivalrous and
great-hearted conqueror of his own, and, perhaps,
of any age” (Life of Saladin, p. 142).
The other trait of Salahuddin Ayyubi that so endeared
non-Muslim biographers to him was his otherworldliness, his
desire to please Allah. S.L. Poole called it ‘fanatical.’ He says,
For above all things, Saladin was a devout Moslem.
His religion was all the world to him. In this alone,
he was fanatical… His own faith was as rigidly orthodox
as it was simple, strong, and sincere. Islam, in its essence
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