IMC 2009: Sessions

The writings of the great Damascene scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) and his disciple Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350) reflect the turbulent intra-Muslim polemics and interfaith relations in 14th-century Mamluk Damascus. This session examines Ibn Taymiyya's and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's definitions of heresy and orthodoxy through their discussions on theology, mysticism, and interfaith relations. The first paper examines both scholars' arguments against the classical Sunni consensus on the eternity of the Fire and a response written against them by their Shafi'i contemporary, Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 1355). The second paper focuses on Ibn Taymiyya's tract against Christians, one of the major evidences for his intolerance towards non-Muslims and 'deviating' Muslims alike. The third paper addresses the strategies employed by Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in their treatment of the different trends of Islamic mysticism (Sufism). The fourth paper presents the problem of the temporal and material manifestations of the Quran (the recited Quran, the written Quran), focusing on both scholars' critiques of heretical views contradicting the Sunni dogma of the uncreated Quran. The writings of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya illustrate that the boundaries of Islamic orthodoxy did not go uncontested in the medieval period. As the cornerstones of modern Islamic revival movements, they continue to stir doctrinal controversy among Muslims today.