Nazm ma infarada bihi Ibn Taymiyya
- Author died
- 1349 AH
- Editions
- Nazm ma infarada bihi Ibn Taymiyya
Nazm ma infarada bihi Ibn Taymiyya (Arabic: نظم ما انفرد به ابن تيمية, lit. 'Versification of the Singular Positions of Ibn Taymiyya') is a didactic poem by the Najdi scholar Sulayman bin Sahman (c. 1266–1349 AH / c. 1850–1930 CE) that versifies nineteen legal positions in which Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE) diverged from the four Sunni legal schools.
Background and Composition
The poem consists of 53 lines of Arabic verse. In its opening lines, Ibn Sahman states that he composed the poem in response to a request from acquaintances who asked him to put into verse the juristic choices (ikhtiyārāt) in which Ibn Taymiyya held opinions distinct from the eponymous founders of the four schools: Abu Hanifa (al-Nu‘man), Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Ibn Sahman based his versification on an earlier written transcription summarizing these isolated matters.
Contents and Scope
The poem enumerates nineteen distinct legal rulings (masāʾil):
- Shortening the prayer (qaṣr al-ṣalāh) during any journey designated as travel, regardless of whether the distance is long or short, aligning with the Zahiri school and certain Companions.
- Waiving the required ascertainment period (istibrāʾ) for an adult virgin concubine, adopting the view of al-Bukhari and an opinion traced to Ibn Umar.
- Ruling that the prostration of recitation (sujūd al-tilāwah) does not require ritual ablution (wuḍūʾ).
- Ruling that eating during Ramadan under the mistaken belief that night has fallen or continues does not obligate making up the fast (qaḍāʾ).
- Sufficiency of a single saʿy between al-Safa and al-Marwah for a pilgrim performing Tamattu‘, as held by Ibn Abbas and related in a report from Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
- Permissibility of competition with stakes without requiring a third-party non-paying contestant (muḥallil), even if both competitors contribute to the prize.
- Requiring a woman who concludes a khulʿ divorce to observe an istibrāʾ of only a single menstrual cycle.
- Requiring only one menstrual cycle of istibrāʾ for a woman engaged through intercourse based on doubt (waṭʾ bi-shubhah).
- Requiring only one menstrual cycle for a woman receiving the final of three repudiations.
- Permissibility of cohabiting with non-Muslim idolatrous female captives held through rightful ownership (milk al-yamīn).
- Permissibility of knotting the upper wrap (ridāʾ) during ritual consecration (iḥrām).
- Permissibility for a menstruating woman to perform the circumambulation of the Kaaba (ṭawāf) when purification is impossible and her traveling caravan is departing.
- Permissibility of exchanging unpressed produce for its extracted oil or juice, such as trading olives for olive oil.
- Permissibility of performing ablution with any liquid properly called water, whether categorized as absolute (muṭlaq) or qualified (muqayyad).
- Permissibility of selling crafted silver jewelry for plain silver with disparity in weight (tafāḍul), with the added amount offsetting the labor of craftsmanship.
- Ruling that a liquid does not become ritually impure (najas) through contact with impurity unless its observable characteristics change.
- Permissibility of dry ablution (tayammum) for someone fearing to miss the Eid or Friday prayer.
- Ruling that a triple repudiation uttered in a single phrasing counts only as a single repudiation, an issue Ibn Sahman notes triggered intense hostility and turmoil against Ibn Taymiyya.
- Ruling that conditional oaths sworn by divorce (ḥalif bi-l-ṭalāq) can be expiated with an oath expiation (kaffārah); Ibn Sahman highlights that Ibn Taymiyya faced persistent persecution for issuing this fatwa and authored a thousand-page work defending his position.
Transmission and Publication
The poem is collected in Ibn Sahman's poetry compendium (Dīwān, p. 520 / 524). It was also preserved in Multaqā al-Anhar min Muntaqā al-Ash‘ār, compiled by his son Salih. An edition of the poem was edited by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman bin 'Aqil al-Zahiri with contributions from Muhammad Khayr Ramadan Yusuf and 'Abd al-Muhsin bin 'Abd al-'Aziz al-'Askar, published in Riyadh by Maktabat al-Rushd (1427 AH / 2006 CE).
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