Posted by Abu Iyaad
Translated
June 2002
Filed under Sects & Innovations
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said:[1]
And all of the innovations, such as the innovations of the Khawārij, the Shīʿah, the Murjiʾah and the Qadariyyah have resemblance in the texts of the Prophets, unlike the innovation of the Jahmite Negators, for they do not have any [divine] textual proof fundamentally. And it is for this reason that they were the last of the innovations in Islām. And when they occurred the Salaf and the Imāms expressed the view of making takfīr of those who held onto [these innovations], due to their knowledge that the reality of their statement is the negation of a Creator.
He (رحمه الله) also said:[2]
Innovation, whenever it is more apparently in opposition to the Messenger, its appearance is delayed, and that which is more hidden in its opposition to the Book and the Sunnah — such as the innovation of the Khawārij — appears first.
Comments:
The innovation of the Jahmites appeared in the early second century after the four foundational innovations had surfaced in the first century hijrah, and it did not have any basis at all in the Qurʾan and the Sunnah. It was an entirely foreign doctrine and enterprise, returning back to the intellects and ramblings of the Greek philosophers.
This is unlike the innovations of the Khārijites, the Rāfiḍah, the Qadariyyah and the Murjiʾah, as they could be extracted from the texts on account of misinterpretations or using texts selectively. But what the Jahmites came with, the negation of the names, attributes and actions of Allāh, that is entirely foreign to the revealed text. As such, this innovation is greater and more apparent in misguidance and is why it appeared later, after the foundational innovations.
The earlier the innovation, the greater its obscurity and hidden nature and it is why so many people are put to trial with the bidʿah of the Khārijites. It is derived from revealed texts on the basis of misinterpretations and selective usage of texts.
And the later the innovation, the more apparent its falsehood, such as the innovations of unity of existence (waḥdat al-wujūd) and divine union (al-ittiḥād) and the likes, which appeared much later, and which constitute the greatest of disbelief.
As for takfīr of the Jahmites, then it is upon its generality, upon them as a group and not upon specific individuals, as that requires the establishment of the proof.
Ibn Taymiyyah said:[3]
And [negation of the attributes] is the saying of the Jahmites whom the Salaf and the Imāms made unrestricted takfīr of [as a group], even if a specific individual [among them] is not declared a disbeliever except after establishment of the proof whose abandoner becomes a disbeliever.
Footnotes
1. Naqd Taʾsīs al-Jahmiyyah, (1/592)2. Al-Radd ʿalā al-Akhnāʾī (p. 312)
3. Majmūʾ al-Fatāwā (2/352)