Ibn¿Taymiyya (1263¿1328) of Damascus was one of the most prominent and controversial religious scholars of medieval Islam. He called for jihad against the Mongol invaders of Syria, appealed to the foundational sources of Islam for reform, and battled against religious innovation. Today, he inspires such diverse movements as Global Salafism, Islamic revivalism and modernism, and violent jihadism. This volume synthesizes the latest research, discusses many little-known aspects of Ibn Taymiyya¿s thought, and highlights the religious utilitarianism that pervades his activism, ethics, and theology.

Jon Hoover is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Nottingham. He specialises in Islamic intellectual history, medieval Islamic theology and philosophy, Christian–Muslim relations, and the thought of Ibn Taymiyya. He is the author of Ibn Taymiyya’s Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism, and numerous articles and book chapters on Ibn Taymiyya’s theology and ethics.

INTRODUCTION



1 EARLY CAREER AND THE MONGOL INVASIONS

The Formative Years

Appearance, Character, and Personal Relationships

Early Engagements with Religious Law

Early Engagements with Theology

The Mongol Invasion of 1299–1300

The Mongol Invasions of 1300–1301 and 1303

Christians in the Wake of the Mongols



2 LATER CAREER AND MAJOR TRIALS

Conflicts with Sufis

The 1306 Damascus Trials over Theology

Imprisonments in Egypt over Theology and Sufism 1306–1310

Final Years in Egypt 1310–1313

Back in Damascus Teaching and Writing

The 1318 Nusayri Revolt

Trials over Divorce Oaths

Final Imprisonment over Grave Visitation 1326–1328



3 THE PRIORITY OF WORSHIP

Worship and the Human Natural Constitution

A Spirituality of Love

Divinity and Lordship

Command and Creation

Sainthood

4 WORSHIP, LAW, AND INNOVATION

Worship and the Law

Worship Rituals: Lawful and Innovated

Spiritual Concert and Annihilation

Benefit and the Law

Innovated Festivals and the Prophet’s Birthday

Grave Visitation and Intercession

Ibn Taymiyya and Sufism

5 JURISTIC AUTHORITY AND DERIVING GOD’S LAW

The Sunni Law School System

Back to the Qur’an and the Sunna

Forbidding Chess

Invalidating Triple Divorce

6 UTILITARIAN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ETHICS

Social Ethics

The Caliphate

Public Authority and the Law

Law-Guided Public Policy

Trusts of public office and public wealth

Justice: the limits and rights of God and humans

Jihad



7 GOD AND CREATION

Kalam Theology

Esotericism

Non-cognitivism

Apologetic Interpretativism

God is Sitting Over the Throne

The Timelessly Eternal God of Philosophy and Kalam

God Wills for Wise Purposes and Creates from Eternity

8 GOD AND HUMANITY

Justice, Evil, and the Human Act

God’s Protection of Prophets

The Signs of a True Prophet

Christianity: An Object Lesson in Innovated Religion

The Ultimate Destiny of Unbelievers



9 EPILOGUE

Bibliography

Index