Ibn Abu al-Iz
| Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1331 |
| Died | 1390 (aged 58–59) |
| Era | Medieval era |
| Region | Syria |
| School | Sunni/Hanafi |
Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz (Arabic: ابن أبي العز) was born in the year 1331 CE/731 AH. He came from a family that had been strong supporters of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He was originally from Damascus, moved to Egypt and then returned to Damascus.
Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz became embroiled in a controversy due to his view that Allah Ta'ala has a direction, his view that Hell is not eternal and his censure of Ibn Aybuk's qaṣĩdah (poem) due to its contents which he held constituted disbelief. Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz was subsequently removed from his position as judge until an individual named al-Nāṣirī raised the issue to the authorities resulting in Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz's position being returned. He remained at his position until his death in Damascus in 1390/792.
Al-‘Izz was also allegedly imprisoned for another one of his beliefs that was viewed as egregious and reprehensible, which was the notion that the Prophet Muhammad was not the very best of all of God’s creations, as this belief went against the consensus of all the Muslim scholars, which is an incontrovertible source of Islamic law.
Others however have contested the existence of al-‘Izz altogether and have posited that biographical details are recent interpolations or false attributions. Muhammad Zahid Al-Kawthari said, "A commentary was published [on the Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah], authored by an unknown spuriously affiliated with the Hanafi school, but whose handiwork proclaims his ignorance of this discipline and the fact that he is an anthropomorphist who has lost his compass."
The late hadith and usul scholar of Damascus, Sayyid Ibrahim al-Ya`qubi, suspected Ibn Abi al-‘Izz of being a pseudonym for Ibn al-Qayyim, given away by the author's systematic abandonment of the Maturidi and Sunni position on not one but several key points in favour of Ibn Taymiyyah's newly pioneered opinions, and the fact that Ibn al-Qayyim was known to be his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah's most vocal, ardent and vociferous supporter. This claim might be given further credence by the reality that both al-‘Izz and Ibn al-Qayyim lived at the same time and the fact that the former's opinions as espoused in his Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah commentary are indistinguishable from that of Ibn al-Qayyim's opinions, which are furthermore known at the time to have been confined to his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, himself and his small and select circle of students in Damascus.
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