A discussion on the ruling regarding the distinction between a scholar’s error in creed and his error in legal rulings, and whether a distinction is made between them, along with a brief biography of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah

The Shaykh : I am telling you, evaluate Ibn Taymiyyah from the context. Can you imagine Abu Hanifa deviating from a correct creed?

The questioner : By Allah, according to him, he did not deviate.

The Shaykh : The best speech is that which is brief and to the point.

The questioner : Any person is possible.

The Shaykh : Is it permissible or not permissible? Well, what was the difficulty? What is the difference between Abu Hanifa and Ibn Taymiyyah?

The questioner : I mean, regarding what was written about him, is this statement true?

The Shaykh : No, that is not what you are aiming for.

The questioner : Perhaps I expressed it poorly, yes.

The Shaykh : No problem, we want to clarify, we want to remove the thorns from the path.
Ali Hasan:The Shaykh : When you research with him, it is not like researching with anyone else; you have to be careful with every word.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, my brother, if you said, “It is true that such and such is said about Ibn Taymiyyah,” we would give you the answer.

The questioner : That is it.

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you, but when you say, “We cannot imagine, I can hardly believe that a knowledgeable, virtuous man would fall into error,” and you even mentioned in your recitation just now that he errs in rulings but also errs in creed—is that not what you said!

The questioner : Our Shaykh, this is my statement, I admit it.

The Shaykh : There is no difference! The one who errs here errs here. Rest easy. As for me making you rest easy, I want to return you to the fact that your patience is long. I know, I want to tell you: Ibn Taymiyyah is not infallible! I have not finished my speech. When will you rest easy? When I tell you with a comprehensive and exclusive answer: Ibn Taymiyyah is infallible, Ibn Taymiyyah is not infallible. Did you get the answer? Yes, meaning if I said it this way or that way, you would rest easy, right or not?

The questioner : Perhaps.

The Shaykh : Why not? Definitely!

The questioner : You can say he erred in some matters and corrected some matters.

The Shaykh : But he erred in any case. May Allah guide you. There is a benefit. Now, if someone said to you, “My brother, Ibn Taymiyyah is infallible!”

The questioner : I do not believe it.

The Shaykh : He is asking you, it is not a report, it is a question.

The questioner : I tell him, no.

The Shaykh : This answer, you do not tell me you do not believe it. Well, a second question: Ibn Taymiyyah, after you admitted that he is not infallible, is there a difference for you between creed and other aspects of Islam? Is there a difference for you?

The questioner : Creed is it.

The Shaykh : No, do not interpret. Islam is one religion; it has creed and it has non-creed. I do not want details. I tell you, for example, rulings. Rulings include acts of worship and transactions, and then morals and behavior, and so on. Islam has creed and it has non-creed, right? No details from me or from you. So, if a question comes to you after you said that Ibn Taymiyyah is not infallible, is there a difference for you? If this second question comes to you: Is there a difference for you between him being infallible in creed and not being infallible in non-creed, or is he not infallible in all of Islam, whether it is creed or non-creed?

The questioner : Not infallible.

The Shaykh : Well, what is the difficulty for you? So that you put the padding in your question, which is: Is it true that it is not said about Ibn Taymiyyah that he was deviant in creed?

The questioner : What was difficult for me is that, for example, he is one of the renewers, meaning.

The Shaykh : Perhaps I did not understand. It is clear, it is written in the title. I am telling you, since the question was as I clarified for you, that you want to ask: Is it true that the deviation in creed attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah is not the case? Is that not your question! Why did you put this padding that I cannot believe a scholar is deviant in creed? Since in the end we reached the point that a person who is not infallible can be not infallible in creed and can be not infallible in non-creed, there is no difference.

The questioner : You taught me that I have a long patience, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills.

The questioner : Regarding Ibn Taymiyyah as a renewer, and he brought matters that renewed the Salafi call, and this speech, and renewed the creed of the Salaf.

The Shaykh : And he deviated, he deviated, but we are telling him: Be patient, I want to be patient too, and on the Syrian rule: if you do not come with me, come with me! And therefore I want to walk with him to the end of the journey. Well, continue your speech.

The questioner : Did you not open the field, Shaykh, or how?

The Shaykh : And I am not telling you.

The questioner : Before you say, meaning, your famous saying: if you do not come with me, come with me.

The Shaykh : I am coming with you, meaning, continue your speech.

The questioner : Meaning, Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him).

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him.

The questioner : Shaykh al-Islam, and the one who gave him this title is the renewer of the Salafi call, and so on. So he brought a pure, clarified, or purified creed, meaning, far from the impurities and defects that entered it, especially in the Sufis who were in his time. Meaning, perhaps after he brought all this work, he writes in his speech, for example, writings against the transcendence of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) or other such speech. This is the whole purpose of my speech, and it revolves around the question that you corrected for me, which is: Is it true that what is attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah is not the case.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : Yes, the whole question revolves around it.

The Shaykh : Yes, I have two answers. A brief answer, I say:The Shaykh : Khalid says that it is permissible because he is not infallible, neither in creed nor in non-creed.

The questioner : Correct, true.

The Shaykh : As for the detailed answer that you want, there are some relative matters, and they are related to creed. It is possible that an Imam like Ibn Taymiyyah is contradicted by another Imam who also shares something with him and differs from him in something else. They share with him that each of them is not infallible. Keep this in mind, but he differs from him. He says Ibn Taymiyyah erred in this matter, and it is related to creed. At that time, it does not concern me or you that this person might err, because if I said this, it is not possible for him to err like a sin, it is contrary to the speech of Ibn Taymiyyah. And I want now, it will become perhaps half the night. Let us pray. Well, I want to tell you a very important research on the subject, which is that Islam distinguishes between something called creed and something called rulings, for example, or anything else. This is a very serious error, and it results in errors, among which is: the error in rulings is acceptable and its owner is excused, and the error in creed is rejected and its owner is not excused! An error built on an error!

The questioner: Correct.

The Shaykh : And if you want this truth, there is no difference at that time. Ibn Taymiyyah erred, so he said, for example, in the permissibility of two sales in one sale, or he said in matters that have no beginning. Did you hear “matters that have no beginning”? Well, there is no difference whether he erred in this or this, because he is not infallible. But we do not say he disbelieved. We say he exerted effort, so he is rewarded in this or this. It is all Islam, whether it is creed or rulings. Did you understand how? And therefore, you do not occupy your mind with Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and you will give us a long, wide lecture explaining his station in Islam, and that he is Shaykh al-Islam, and so on, and then: Is it permissible for him to err in creed? I say there is no difference, because he is not infallible. We cut off that he is not infallible. He is not a Prophet! And he may err in a matter, in five, in ten, in more, in less, of what came from Islam. In his exertion, he is rewarded for it. There is no difference between this belief being in creed or in a ruling. He erred. I wrote this that he erred, but this does not harm him, because just as I say about him that he erred, he says about someone like me, who was in his time, that he erred.