The Biography of Ibn Sina and the Quotation of the Words of Ibn al-Khalkhan, al-Dhahabi, and Shaykh al-Islam Regarding Him
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The Reader: In the biography of Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Khalkhan said: "Then he performed ghusl, repented, and gave charity to the poor with what he had, returned the injustices, and freed his slaves. He began to complete the recitation of the Qur'an every three days, and then he died on a Friday in Ramadan in the year 487." He said: "His birth was in Safar in the year..."
The Shaykh : ...
The Reader: "His birth was in Safar in the year 370. I said: If his birth is correct, he lived only forty-eight years and months. He was buried at the wall of Hamadan, and it is said his coffin was transferred to Isfahan." And from the will of Ibn Sina to Abu Sa'id Fadl Allah al-Muhanni: "Let Allah the Exalted be the first of his thought and the last, and the inner and outer of every consideration. Let his eye be anointed with the gaze upon Him, and his step be halted at the standing before Him, traveling in his intellect in the highest kingdom and what is therein of the great signs of his Lord. And when he descends to his station, let him purify Allah in His effects, for He is the Inner and the Outer, manifesting to every thing by every thing. And remember..."
The Shaykh : ...
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The reciter: "and he remembered himself and bid it farewell, and he was with it as if he were not with it. The best of movements is prayer, the best of dwellings is fasting, the most beneficial of righteousness is charity, the purest of secrets is endurance, the longest of journeys is showing off, and the soul does not become pure of the world until it turns away from hearsay and argument."
"It did not turn to hearsay and argument, and the best of deeds is what proceeds from a pure intention, and the best of intentions is what opens up to knowledge and recognition of Allah. The First of the Firsts is[Fatir 35:10] " until he said "and the drink is abandoned in distraction, not for quenching thirst, and he does not fall short in the prescribed forms, and he magnifies the divine sunnahs. This has been mentioned in the history of Islam."
The Shaykh : Yes, yes, yes, yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : ... this speech is riddles and puzzles
The Reader: Finish it, O Shaykh, how many lines are left?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Reader: How many lines are left?
The Shaykh : Very well.
The Reader: "I said: It has been mentioned in the History of Islam, things I have summarized, and he is the head of the Islamic philosophers; no one after al-Farabi has come with the like of it, and praise be to Allah for Islam and the Sunnah. He has the book al-Shifa and others, and things that cannot be borne. And al-Ghazali declared him a disbeliever in his book al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, and declared al-Farabi a disbeliever. And the President said: It has become established for me by mass transmission what happened in Juzjan in our time, a matter of iron, perhaps weighing five hundred manns, that descended from the air and stuck..."
The Student: "...and stuck"
The Reader: "...and stuck"
The Shaykh : Stuck
The Reader: With an open shīn
The Shaykh : Yes
The Reader: "...and stuck in the earth, then it was sent as a prophecy... then it returned and stuck in the earth, and a great, terrifying voice was heard for it. When they investigated its matter, they found it and carried it to the governor of Juzjan. They tried to break a piece of it, and the tools did not work on it except with great effort, and they tried to make a sword from it, but it was impossible." He quoted it in al-Shifa
The Student: ... O Shaykh
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No... no... it has no benefit
The student: ...
Another Student: O Shaykh, there is the speech of Shaykh al-Islam
The Shaykh : Yes
The Student: In the footnote, he quoted the speech of Shaykh al-Islam
The Shaykh : And what does he say?
The Reader: He said in the footnote: "Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his book al-Dar' ta'arud al-'aql wa al-nql, and he is in the midst of researching the deviation of the philosophers. These people have two methods regarding the texts of the prophets: the method of alteration and the method of ignorance. As for the people of alteration, they are of two types: the people of illusion and imagination, and the people of distortion and figurative interpretation. The people of illusion and imagination are those who say that the prophets informed about Allah, the Last Day, Paradise, and Hell, and even about the angels, with matters that do not correspond to the reality of the matter itself."
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The Reader: "But they addressed them with what they imagine and suppose, that Allah is a great body, and that bodies are resurrected, and that they have tangible pleasure and tangible punishment, even if the matter is not so in the reality of the matter. For it is in the interest of the public that they be addressed with what they suppose and imagine that the matter is so, and even if this is a lie, it is a lie for the interest of the public."
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The reciter: "since their calling and their benefit could not be realized except by this method, and Ibn Sina and his like established their law upon this principle. The law he mentioned in his treatise... page forty-four, fifty-one. And these people say that the prophets intended the apparent meanings of these words and intended for the public to understand these apparent meanings from them, even though the apparent meanings are in themselves lies and falsehoods and contrary to the truth. So they intended to make the public understand through lies and falsehoods for the sake of benefit. Then some of these people say that the Prophet knew the truth but displayed its opposite for the sake of benefit. And some of them say that he did not know the truth as he knows it."
The Shaykh : Yes
The reciter: "he did not know the truth as he knows it, the philosophers and their like. And these people prefer the perfect philosopher to the prophet, and prefer the perfect wali who has this vision to the prophet, just as Ibn Arabi al-Tayyibi prefers the seal of the awliya, in his claim, to the prophets, and just as al-Farabi and Mubashshir ibn Fatik and others prefer the philosopher to the prophet. As for those who say that the Prophet knew that, they may say that the prophet is better than the philosopher because he knew what the philosopher knew and more, and he was able to address the public in a way" "in a way that the philosopher and Ibn Sina and their like are unable to do. And this, in general, is the saying of the philosophers and the Batiniyyah, such as the Ismaili atheists, the authors of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Suhrawardi the misguided, Ibn Rushd the grandson, and the Sufi atheists who have strayed from the path of the sheikhs" "the early sheikhs from the people of the Book and the Sunnah, such as Ibn Arabi, Ibn Sab'in, and Ibn al-Tufayl, the author of the Treatise of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, and a large group besides these.
And the Shaykh al-Islam devoted a large section of this great book to tracking the errors and misguidances of Ibn Sina and explaining the falsehood and deviation therein, with proof and evidence, following the method of the righteous Salaf, from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who followed them in excellence from the imams and scholars who are attested to for their knowledge, faith, uprightness, and recognition.
The Shaykh : ...
The questioner : ... what is it... I mean he repented from his deeds... and others and others... on this and this, but from the creed, what did he repent from?
The Shaykh : He did not repent, that is it
The Student: ... the will, O Shaykh, is it complete in Tabaqat al-Atibba...
The Shaykh : ... in any case, what concerns me now is that the man is a deviant from the philosophers who reject the religions, and that he does not deserve to have his mention raised among people, but rather it is said he is a doctor among the doctors only. Yes, indeed.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The original, the original is what you know, and if this is his repentance... it only added wetness. Is there another?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Student: Al-'Alaf
The Shaykh : Al-'Alaf, do you have it? Yes
The Reader: ... a summary, in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful
The Shaykh : We will get this for you
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : ...
The Reader: "His birth was in Safar in the year 370. I said: If his birth is correct, he lived only forty-eight years and months. He was buried at the wall of Hamadan, and it is said his coffin was transferred to Isfahan." And from the will of Ibn Sina to Abu Sa'id Fadl Allah al-Muhanni: "Let Allah the Exalted be the first of his thought and the last, and the inner and outer of every consideration. Let his eye be anointed with the gaze upon Him, and his step be halted at the standing before Him, traveling in his intellect in the highest kingdom and what is therein of the great signs of his Lord. And when he descends to his station, let him purify Allah in His effects, for He is the Inner and the Outer, manifesting to every thing by every thing. And remember..."
The Shaykh : ...
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The reciter: "and he remembered himself and bid it farewell, and he was with it as if he were not with it. The best of movements is prayer, the best of dwellings is fasting, the most beneficial of righteousness is charity, the purest of secrets is endurance, the longest of journeys is showing off, and the soul does not become pure of the world until it turns away from hearsay and argument."
"It did not turn to hearsay and argument, and the best of deeds is what proceeds from a pure intention, and the best of intentions is what opens up to knowledge and recognition of Allah. The First of the Firsts is
To Him ascends good speech
إليه يصعد الكلم الطيبThe Shaykh : Yes, yes, yes, yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : ... this speech is riddles and puzzles
The Reader: Finish it, O Shaykh, how many lines are left?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Reader: How many lines are left?
The Shaykh : Very well.
The Reader: "I said: It has been mentioned in the History of Islam, things I have summarized, and he is the head of the Islamic philosophers; no one after al-Farabi has come with the like of it, and praise be to Allah for Islam and the Sunnah. He has the book al-Shifa and others, and things that cannot be borne. And al-Ghazali declared him a disbeliever in his book al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, and declared al-Farabi a disbeliever. And the President said: It has become established for me by mass transmission what happened in Juzjan in our time, a matter of iron, perhaps weighing five hundred manns, that descended from the air and stuck..."
The Student: "...and stuck"
The Reader: "...and stuck"
The Shaykh : Stuck
The Reader: With an open shīn
The Shaykh : Yes
The Reader: "...and stuck in the earth, then it was sent as a prophecy... then it returned and stuck in the earth, and a great, terrifying voice was heard for it. When they investigated its matter, they found it and carried it to the governor of Juzjan. They tried to break a piece of it, and the tools did not work on it except with great effort, and they tried to make a sword from it, but it was impossible." He quoted it in al-Shifa
The Student: ... O Shaykh
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No... no... it has no benefit
The student: ...
Another Student: O Shaykh, there is the speech of Shaykh al-Islam
The Shaykh : Yes
The Student: In the footnote, he quoted the speech of Shaykh al-Islam
The Shaykh : And what does he say?
The Reader: He said in the footnote: "Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his book al-Dar' ta'arud al-'aql wa al-nql, and he is in the midst of researching the deviation of the philosophers. These people have two methods regarding the texts of the prophets: the method of alteration and the method of ignorance. As for the people of alteration, they are of two types: the people of illusion and imagination, and the people of distortion and figurative interpretation. The people of illusion and imagination are those who say that the prophets informed about Allah, the Last Day, Paradise, and Hell, and even about the angels, with matters that do not correspond to the reality of the matter itself."
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The Reader: "But they addressed them with what they imagine and suppose, that Allah is a great body, and that bodies are resurrected, and that they have tangible pleasure and tangible punishment, even if the matter is not so in the reality of the matter. For it is in the interest of the public that they be addressed with what they suppose and imagine that the matter is so, and even if this is a lie, it is a lie for the interest of the public."
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The reciter: "since their calling and their benefit could not be realized except by this method, and Ibn Sina and his like established their law upon this principle. The law he mentioned in his treatise... page forty-four, fifty-one. And these people say that the prophets intended the apparent meanings of these words and intended for the public to understand these apparent meanings from them, even though the apparent meanings are in themselves lies and falsehoods and contrary to the truth. So they intended to make the public understand through lies and falsehoods for the sake of benefit. Then some of these people say that the Prophet knew the truth but displayed its opposite for the sake of benefit. And some of them say that he did not know the truth as he knows it."
The Shaykh : Yes
The reciter: "he did not know the truth as he knows it, the philosophers and their like. And these people prefer the perfect philosopher to the prophet, and prefer the perfect wali who has this vision to the prophet, just as Ibn Arabi al-Tayyibi prefers the seal of the awliya, in his claim, to the prophets, and just as al-Farabi and Mubashshir ibn Fatik and others prefer the philosopher to the prophet. As for those who say that the Prophet knew that, they may say that the prophet is better than the philosopher because he knew what the philosopher knew and more, and he was able to address the public in a way" "in a way that the philosopher and Ibn Sina and their like are unable to do. And this, in general, is the saying of the philosophers and the Batiniyyah, such as the Ismaili atheists, the authors of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Suhrawardi the misguided, Ibn Rushd the grandson, and the Sufi atheists who have strayed from the path of the sheikhs" "the early sheikhs from the people of the Book and the Sunnah, such as Ibn Arabi, Ibn Sab'in, and Ibn al-Tufayl, the author of the Treatise of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, and a large group besides these.
And the Shaykh al-Islam devoted a large section of this great book to tracking the errors and misguidances of Ibn Sina and explaining the falsehood and deviation therein, with proof and evidence, following the method of the righteous Salaf, from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who followed them in excellence from the imams and scholars who are attested to for their knowledge, faith, uprightness, and recognition.
The Shaykh : ...
The questioner : ... what is it... I mean he repented from his deeds... and others and others... on this and this, but from the creed, what did he repent from?
The Shaykh : He did not repent, that is it
The Student: ... the will, O Shaykh, is it complete in Tabaqat al-Atibba...
The Shaykh : ... in any case, what concerns me now is that the man is a deviant from the philosophers who reject the religions, and that he does not deserve to have his mention raised among people, but rather it is said he is a doctor among the doctors only. Yes, indeed.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The original, the original is what you know, and if this is his repentance... it only added wetness. Is there another?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Student: Al-'Alaf
The Shaykh : Al-'Alaf, do you have it? Yes
The Reader: ... a summary, in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful
The Shaykh : We will get this for you
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes.