Ikhtiyarat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya lada mutarjimihi
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Ikhtiyarat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya lada mutarjimihi (The Juristic Choices of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya According to His Biographers) is a scholarly monograph compiled by Sami bin Muhammad bin Jad Allah that brings together the jurisprudential choices and singular opinions of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE) recorded within historical biographical dictionaries and chronicles .
Background and Purpose
The compiler prepared the work after observing that several classical biographers included concise lists of Ibn Taymiyya's legal choices (ikhtiyarat) in their biographical entries, independent of the dedicated treatises devoted to compiling his jurisprudence . Foremost among these biographers was Ibn Taymiyya's student Ibn Abd al-Hadi (d. 744 AH / 1343 CE), who listed 21 legal issues in his biographical work al-Uqud al-durriyya min manaqib Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya (The Pearl Necklaces on the Virtues of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya) .
Later biographers built upon this material:
- Ibn Rajab (d. 795 AH / 1393 CE) listed 10 issues in Dhail Tabaqat al-Hanabila (Continuation of the Generations of Hanbalis), four of which overlapped with Ibn Abd al-Hadi's selection, while six were additions .
- Subsequent writers relied on both accounts; Ibn al-Imad selected 22 issues from both authors in Shadharat al-dhahab (Nuggets of Gold), whereas Mujir al-Din al-Ulaymi in al-Manhaj al-Ahmad (The Commendable Path) and Siddiq Hasan Khan in al-Taj al-mukallal (The Crowned Diadem) restricted themselves to Ibn Rajab's selection .
The stated aim of the collection was to assemble and document these dispersed biographical entries in a single reference and attach it to the specialized literature on Ibn Taymiyya's legal choices .
Contents and Structure
The book contains a total of 27 legal issues presented sequentially :
- Ibn Abd al-Hadi's Selection (Issues 1–21): Covers rulings where Ibn Taymiyya differed from the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence or the prevalent views within them . These include shortening prayers on any journey regardless of distance, omitting the requirement of ritual ablution for the prostration of recitation (sujud al-tilawa), not requiring a make-up fast for one who eats in Ramadan believing it is nighttime, performing only a single sa'y for the pilgrim doing Tamattu', validating horse and camel races without a neutral competitor (muhallil), permitting wiping over liquid mixtures that do not alter in impurity, allowing tayammum out of fear of missing Friday or Eid prayers, and his well-known rulings on divorce oaths requiring expiation (kaffara) rather than separation, treating a three-in-one divorce as a single pronouncement, and the invalidity of prohibited forms of divorce .
- Ibn Rajab's Additions (Issues 22–27): Covers the permissibility of wiping over sandals along with the feet, not setting a fixed time limit for wiping over leather socks (khuffayn) for travelers carrying mail out of necessity, wiping over foot wrappings (lafa'if), allowing women to perform tayammum if bathing at home is impossible or public baths are difficult to access, holding that there is no minimum or maximum duration for menstruation or purity intervals, and ruling that one who deliberately abandons prayer is not required to make it up but should increase voluntary prayers .
Methodology and Publication
The compiler transcribed Ibn Abd al-Hadi's original text in full, followed by the additional six issues cited by Ibn Rajab . In the footnotes, each issue is cross-referenced against specialized works on Ibn Taymiyya's choices—such as the works by Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Burhan al-Din Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 767 AH / 1365 CE), and Ala al-Din Ali ibn Muhammad al-Ba'li (d. 803 AH / 1400 CE)—as well as primary writings of Ibn Taymiyya himself . The compiler also noted the issues transmitted by Ibn al-Imad in Shadharat al-dhahab .
The compiler completed the work in Riyadh on 12 Shawwal 1423 AH . It was published as part of the scholarly series Athar Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya wa-ma lahiqaha min a'mal (volume 11), under the general supervision of Bakr bin Abd Allah Abu Zayd, and issued in a first edition by Dar Alam al-Fawa'id in Mecca in 1424 AH (2003 CE), and later by Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm .
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