Shaykh ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said:[1] (view Arabic text)
And the Believer is in need of making imtihān (testing, examining) the one he wishes to accompany, and unite with in marriage and other such things. The Most High said: “When the emigrating believing women come to you, then examine them, Allāh knows best regarding their Imān...” (60:10)
After this, Shaykh ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah speaks about the repentance of a zāniyah (unmarried women who fornicates) with a man and if this man wants to marry her, he tests the reality of her repentance by attempting to seduce her (to see if she refrains or not), and he quotes a narration from ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿUmar and Imām Aḥmad in this regard, and then the saying of those who oppose this, and then he gives an explanation of what is actually intended by those who say that the man (who fornicated with her) makes an attempt to seduce her (to test her), which is that if she is willing to commit zinā (fornication) with him, then she may be just as willing to commit it with others, hence he does not marry her, because her repentance was not real and genuine.
Then he (رحمه الله) said:
So when a person wishes to associate with a Believer, or a Believer wishes to associate with anyone, and wickedness is mentioned about him, and it has been said that he has repented from it, or that that (the claim of him having wickedness) was stated about him, regardless of whether that saying was true or false, then he can test him by what he displays, [with respect to] his goodness or his evil, his truthfulness or his lying.
And likewise, when he desires to give someone a position of authority, he tests him, just as ʿUmar bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz commanded his servant to test Ibn Abī Mūsā when his mannerism amazed him (somewhat.) So he said to him: “You know of my position with Amīr al-Muʾminīn (ʿUmar), so how much will you give me if I indicate (the appropriateness) of your (being given) a position of authority with him?” So he gave him a great amount of wealth. And from this ʿUmar knew that he was not fit for authority.
Similarly, in the dealings between the people, and likewise regarding the children, and the slaves when wickedness is known about them or it has been said regarding them, and a man wishes to purchase him, then he should test him, because the effeminate man is like the indecent woman, his repentance is like her repentance. And (likewise) knowing the states (ahwāl) of the people which occurs sometimes by the testimonies of the people, and sometimes by disparagement and appraisal (al-Jarḥ wal-Taʿdīl), and sometimes it can be by examining and testing (al-ikhtibār, al-imtihān).
Shaykh al-Islām (رحمه الله) has mentioned here the necessity of a believer knowing the state and condition with whom he may have to interact and deal with, in both matters of religion and world, and this can be done in three ways:
—a) through testimonies of people
—b) through disparagement and appraisal and
—c) through testing and examining.
Additional Quotes
01 Testing people regarding the Sunnah.
Imām al-Barbahārī (رحمه الله) said:[2]
“To set up a Mihnah (a trial) in Islām is an innovation, but as for today the people are to be tested about the Sunnah”
He means that trial such as that of the statement of the creation of the Qurʾān, are innovations, these are inquisitions which are not known in Islām. However, a believer desiring steadfastness upon his religion, upon truth, upon the way of the Salaf, then he can test people regarding the Sunnah and their adherence to it, and this can be done in numerous ways, see citations that follow.
02 Testing a person who is from a location where innovation and misguidance is present.
Imām ash-Shātibī (رحمه الله) said:[3]
And Ibn Battāl quotes in his ‘Sharḥ al-Bukhārī’ from Abū Hanīfah that he said: “I met ‘Atā bin Abī Rabāh in Makkah and I asked him about something and he said: ‘Which place are you from?’ I said: ‘Kufah’. He said: ‘Are you from the town [whose inhabitants] split their religion and break into sects?’ I said: ‘Yes’. He said: ‘From which group are you?’ I said: ‘From those who do not revile and abuse the Salaf, [from those] who have faith in al-Qadar and who do not declare anyone to be a disbeliever on account a sin [that he committed].’ So ‘Aṭā said: ‘You know [the truth] so hold fast.'”
03 Testing an individual who claims to have made repentance from an innovated doctrine.
Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله) said:[4]
Just as Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Shaykh ul-Islām [Abu Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī al-Harawī] reported with their chains of narration that Hishām bin ʿUbayd Allāh al-Rāzee, the companion of Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan, the Qāḍī of Rayy, imprisoned a man for holding the view of Jahm [bin Safwān]. He repented and so was brought to Hishām that he may test him, so he said, “All praise is due to Allāh for the tawbah”. Then Hishām tested him saying, “I testify that Allāh is above His Throne, distinct and separate from His creation (bā’inun min khalqihi)”. So he (the man) said, “I testify that Allāh is above His Throne, but I do not know what is “bā’inun min khalqihi”. So he (Hishām) said, “Return him to the prison, for he has not repented.”
04 Testing a person through his feelings (states of heart), actions, behavious and allegiances, all of which are interconnected and inseparable.
Shaykh ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said:[5]
And faith (īmān) is known about a man, just as all the states of his heart are known by way of his (outward) allegiances, enmities, his rejoicing, anger, hunger, thirst, and other such affairs. For these matters have certain outward binding necessities (لوازم ظاهرة) and the outward matters necessitate inward matters. And this is a matter known, the people know this concerning the one that they have experienced and tested (جربوه وامتحنوه)…
This is from the greatest of what exposes the people of innovation and misguidance, the people of hizbiyyah (partisanship) and false claimants to Salafiyyah, those who wear its garment in order to conceal their inner resentment, hatred and enmity towards people of the Sunnah traversing upon the way of the Salaf. Their outward actions, behaviours and allegiances expose their realities without there being any need for disputation or discussion about whether they hold a deviant belief or methodology. Rather, these types of outward actions and allegiances in themselves amount to nothing more than an open announcement on their behalf of their deviation, and this is related from the Salaf in the matter of judging a person by his friendship and allegiance.
05 Testing the people of each city, locality or region by the heads of the Sunnah therein.
ʿAlī bin al-Madīnī (رحمه الله) said:[6]
I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Mahdī say: “Ibn ‘Awn is a test for the people of Basrah. If you see a person from them loving him, then incline and be secure with him. For the people of Kūfah, Mālik bin Mighwal and Zā’idah bin Qudāmah are a test. If you see a man loving them then seek his goodness. And for the people of Shām, al-Awzāʿī, and Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī are a test. And for the people of Hijāz, Mālik bin Anas.”
Ibn Mahdī (رحمه الله) said:[7]
When you see a person from Shām loving al-Awzāʾī and Abū Ishāq al-Farāzī, then he is a person of the Sunnah.
Sufyān al-Thawrī (رحمه الله) said:[8]
Test the people of Mawṣul by Muʿāfī bin ʿImrān.
Aḥmad bin Zahīr said:[9]
I heard Ahmad bin Abd Allāh bin Yūnus say: “Test the people of Mawṣul with Muʿāfī bin ʿImrān. If they love him, then they are Ahl al-Sunnah, and if they hate him, then they are Ahl al-Bidʿah – just as the people of Kūfah are to be tested with Yahyā.”
Footnotes
1. Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 15/328-3292. Sharh al-Sunnah, p.96, Eng. Trans.
3. Al-Iʿtiṣām (1/43).
4. Ijtimā’ Juyūsh al-Islāmiyyah p.75. See also: Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (5/94).
5. Minhāj al-Sunnah (8/474-475).
6. Al-Lālikāʾī (1/62).
7. al-Jarh wal-Taʿdīl of Ibn Abī Hātim, (1/217)
8. Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb of Ibn Hajar (10/180).
9. Al-Lālikā’ee (1/66).