Ikhtiyarat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya lil-Burhan Ibn al-Qayyim
- Author died
- 767 AH
- Editions
- Dar 'Ata'at al-'Ilm
Ikhtiyarat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya (The Legal and Doctrinal Selections of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya) is a concise compendium of juridical preferences compiled by Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 767 AH / 1365 CE) . The treatise is chronologically the second dedicated work composed on the legal selections of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE), following the earlier compilation by Ibn Abd al-Hadi (d. 744 AH / 1343 CE) .
Purpose and Structure
The author, who was the son and student of the prominent Hanbali scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, composed the work to defend Ibn Taymiyya against allegations that his legal determinations broke scholarly consensus (ijma) . In the introduction, Burhan al-Din provided an inductive classification dividing the legal issues in which Ibn Taymiyya was alleged to have held isolated opinions (infirad) into four categories, demonstrating that for each chosen position he had been preceded by one or more earlier imams .
The body of the treatise gathers a total of 98 legal selections, presented succinctly in the traditional format of topic headings (ru'us al-masa'il) without prolonged dialectical argumentation . Bakr Abu Zayd highlighted the text for its precision and utility, noting that it provides the reader with a quick and refined overview of Ibn Taymiyya's positions .
Editions and Publication
The treatise has been published several times:
- It was first printed in Damascus in 1330 AH (1912 CE) at Matba'at Rawdat al-Sham within a collection of treatises, transcribed by Muhammad Jamil al-Shatti from a manuscript copied by his uncle Murad Afandi from the exemplar of Tahir al-Jaza'iri preserved at the Zahiriyya Library .
- It was published in Riyadh in 1403 AH (1983 CE) by Maktabat al-Rushd, introduced and edited by Bakr Abu Zayd, who assigned sequential numbering to its 98 issues .
- A commented edition by Ahmad Muwafi appeared in Cairo through Dar al-Safa in 1413 AH (1992 CE) under the title al-Masa'il al-Fiqhiyya min Ikhtiyarat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya .
- A critical edition prepared by Sami ibn Muhammad ibn Jad Allah based on another manuscript was published by Dar 'Ata'at al-'Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm under the supervision of Bakr Abu Zayd .
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