Ibn Jahbal al-Kilabi | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1333 (1334) |
| Main interest(s) | Aqeedah |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
| Creed | Ash'ari[1] |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
Ibn Jahbal al-Kilabi (d. 733 H/ 1333 CE) was a Muslim scholar fromDamascus,Syria.
Al-Kilabi is known to have written a refutation ofIbn Taymiyyah, inspired byAl-Ghazali, which is copied intoTaj al-Din al-Subki'sTabaqat al-Shafi'iyyah al-Kubra. It is idenfitied as lying firmly within the Ash'ari "tafwid-ta'wil" hermeneutic which negates God having corporeal/spatial attributes.[2]
He explains his reason for writing it as follows:[3]
What called for writing down this tract is what occurred recently. Someone jotted down something affirming location [for God], and whoever does not have a firm foothold in learning is deceived by it... So, I thought it best to mention the creed of the People of the Sunna and the Community and then elucidate the corruption of what he mentioned... Then, I provided proofs for the creed of the people of the Sunna and what is linked to that.
— Ibn Jahbal
In the treatise, Al-Kilabi never mentionsIbn Taymiyyah by name, instead referring to him as "he" or "you". He labels him a turncoat, someone deluded and an imposter. He also counts him as among theHashwiyyah and shows particular disdain for the fact that some Hashwiyyah, like Ibn Taymiyyah, identify their views with the doctrine of thesalaf and teach them to the masses.[4]
Al-Kilabi takesAl-Ghazali's last work,Iljam al-Awwam as his starting point and abridges the first chapter of Iljam into a few pages. FollowingAl-Ghazali, Al-Kilabi outlines seven points that the common people (awwam) must observe.[5]
They must:[6]
In the final section of his treatise, Al-Kilabi outlines four rational proofs for God's freedom from location. These proofs assert that ascribing location to God subjects God to the absurdities of finitude, temporal origination and measure, as well as the eternal existence of an independently existing location. Al-Kilabi then quotes a number of Quranic verses, such as "There is nothing like him" (Qur'an 42:11).[6]
