Sihhat Naql al-Ijma عند Shaykh al-Islam fi Hurmat al-Tawaf bi-Ghayr al-Bayt al-Haram
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- Sihhat Naql al-Ijma عند Shaykh al-Islam fi Hurmat al-Tawaf bi-Ghayr al-Bayt al-Haram
Sihhat Naql al-Ijma عند Shaykh al-Islam fi Hurmat al-Tawaf bi-Ghayr al-Bayt al-Haram (The Authenticity of the Consensus Cited by Shaykh al-Islam Regarding the Prohibition of Circumambulating Other Than the Sacred House) is a contemporary treatise in Islamic jurisprudence and theology by Abu Abd Allah Ahmad ibn Muhammad Basyuni. The work examines the validity of the scholarly consensus (ijma') narrated by Ibn Taymiyyah regarding the prohibition of circumambulating (tawaf) anything other than the Ka'bah, alongside the consensus on the illegitimacy of touching and kissing graves.
Origin and Purpose
The treatise was originally written as a series of articles published online by the author, who subsequently compiled them into a single research paper. Basyuni's primary objective is to verify whether Ibn Taymiyyah's transmission of consensus on the strict prohibition of circumambulating graves, domes, or sacred sites—such as the Dome of the Rock and the Prophet's chamber—aligns with the documented rulings across the four Sunni legal schools.
Contents and Structure
The book is organized into thematic sections covering the primary sources, textual analyses, and comparative juristic positions:
- Ibn Taymiyyah's Transmissions of Consensus: Basyuni gathers explicit statements by Ibn Taymiyyah from works such as Majmu' al-Fatawa, al-Radd 'ala al-Ikhna'i, Jami' al-Masa'il, and Mukhtasar al-Fatawa al-Misriyyah by Ibn al-Liham (al-Ba'li), which Basyuni verified against the author's handwritten manuscript.
- Textual Clarifications: The author analyzes a passage transmitted by Ibn Muflih in al-Furu' and al-Ba'li in al-Ikhtiyarat, clarifying that the consensus reported by Ibn Taymiyyah pertains to the legal prohibition of tawaf and the unlegislated status of touching and kissing graves, whereas the characterization of such acts as polytheism (shirk) was Ibn Taymiyyah's own underlying rationale rather than a matter of reported consensus.
- The Hanafi Position: The work documents the widespread Hanafi ruling that circumambulating any structure other than the Ka'bah entails a fear of disbelief (kuffr), referencing jurists such as Badr al-Din al-Ayni, Siraj al-Din Ibn Nujaym, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Abu Sa'id al-Khadimi, and Ahmad al-Tahtawi, drawing directly from early works like al-Kafi by al-Nasafi and Mi'raj al-Hidayah by al-Kaki.
- The Maliki Position: Basyuni cites Malik ibn Anas, Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, and Ibn Nasr al-Baghdadi to show that tawaf is exclusively legislated for the Ka'bah, and adduces explicit condemnations of circumambulating graves and the Rock from Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari's al-Madkhal and Khalil ibn Ishaq's Manasik.
- The Shafi'i Position: The author marshals statements from al-Hulimi, Abd al-Karim al-Rafi'i, Ibn al-Salah, Abu Shamah, Ibn al-Nahhas, al-Maqrizi, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti. He highlights that consensus on the prohibition was narrated before Ibn Taymiyyah by Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, affirmed by Izz al-Din Ibn Jama'ah, and reiterated by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, who listed it among major sins in al-Zawajir.
- The Hanbali Position and Resolution of Ambiguities: The book details rulings of prohibition by Ibn Aqil, Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn al-Najjar, Mansur al-Buhuti, and Mar'i al-Karmi. Basyuni responds to later formulations in Musa al-Hujjawi's al-Iqna', Dalil al-Talib, and Ibn Balban's Mukhtasar al-Ifadat that phrased the ruling as mere dislike (karahah), arguing that: (1) this was al-Hujjawi's personal derivation not found in authoritative Hanbali compendia, while al-Hujjawi himself affirmed consensus on prohibition elsewhere in his text; (2) consensus had already been established prior to al-Hujjawi; and (3) legal analogical deduction (takhrij) and the principle of blocking means (sadd al-dhara'i') mandate absolute prohibition.
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