Question:

Is Ibn Taymiyyah counted among the atheists by Ibn Hajar Al-Haitami?

Answer:

Ibn Hajar Al-Haitami writes: “Woe to you that you take from what is written in the books of Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah and his disciple Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah and others besides the two, who took their desires as god and let their desires stray from knowledge and whose hearts He sealed and on whose eyes He put a veil and who else but God should guide them and how much did these atheists overstep the boundaries and break the rules and transgress the framework of the law and truth? They really thought that they were guided by their Lord, but that is not the case. Rather, they are on the worst path of error and belong to the ugliest and most horrible kind, yet Khorasan put an end to the lies and slander. May God humble their followers and wipe them from the face of the earth.” [Al-Fatawa Al-Hadithiyyah, page 148]

قال ابن حجر الهيتمي: وإياك أن تصغي إلى ما في كتب ابن تيمية وتلميذه ابن قيم الجوزية وغيرهما ممن اتخذ إلهه هواه وأضله الله على علم وختم على سمعه وقلبه وجعل على بصره غشاوة فمن يهديه من بعد الله ، وكيف تجاوز هؤلاء الملحدون الحدود وتعدوا الرسوم وخرقوا سياج الشريعة والحقيقة فظنوا بذلك أنهم على هذى من ربهم وليسوا كذلك بل هم على أسوإ الضلال وأقبح الخصال وأبلغ المقت والخسران وأنهى الكذب والبهتان فخذل الله متبعه وطهر الأرض من أمثالهم

Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani writes: “Except for two persons, nobody calls Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah an infidel: “Either someone who is in a state of true disbelief, or someone who is ignorant of his condition, for he was one of the great scholars among the Muslims.” [Ar-Radd-ul-Wafir by Ibn Nasir Ad-Din Ad-Dimashqi, page 263]

قال ابن حجر العسقلاني: لا يطلق في ابن تيمية أنه كافر إلا أحد رجلين إما كافر حقيقة وإما جاهل بحاله فإنه الرجل كان من كبار المسلمين

Badr-ud-Din Al-Ayni writes: “The government must punish this ignorant transgressor who says about him (Ibn Taymiyyah) that he was a disbeliever, by disciplining him with a hard blow and long imprisonment, and whoever says to a Muslim: “O you disbeliever!” He himself becomes an disbeliever.” [Ar-Radd-ul-Wafir by Ibn Nasir Ad-Din Ad-Dimashqi, page 265]

قال بدر الدين العيني: يجب على ولاة الأمور أن يعاقبوا هذا الجاهل المفسد الذي قال في حقه إنه كان كافرا بأنواع التعزير من الضرب الشديد والحبس المديد ومن قال لمسلم يا كافر يرجع ما قاله إليه