An Explanation of Ibn al-Qayyim’s Profound Mastery of Knowledge

The Shaykh : It appears to me from this statement of his that he intends to say that he is an affirming scholar who judged the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) and called them to these three qualities, but they refused. He called them to a face-to-face debate, but they refused. Then to what? Correspondence, where he would write and they would write, but they refused. Then he called them to a mubahalah (mutual imprecation) between the Rukn (Corner) and the Maqam (Station), but they refused. When he saw that all avenues were blocked, he, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote a debate between himself and the people of ta'til in the following poem, so that a person may judge for himself who is in the right based on what he sees in this poem. And as we have all witnessed, the strength of the author’s, may Allah have mercy on him, style, clarity, and eloquence—all his books are of this nature. You will find them at the peak of clarity, eloquence, and smoothness, to the extent that a person does not get tired of reading or reviewing them. We ask Allah the Exalted to forgive him and to reward him with good.