The Lofty Virtues Of Ibn Taymiyyah

long been forgotten, and made him a proof upon all the people of his era, and praise is to
Allāh, the Lord of the worlds.
- His Abundant Knowledge, Writings, and Excellent Memory -
As for his abundant knowledge, this includes his knowledge of the sciences of the Holy
Qur’ān, his ability to derive the smallest and most minute benefits from it, his knowledge of
the statements of the scholars in explaining it, his way of using these statements as evidence,
as well as the ability Allāh gave him to expose its wonders, the beauty of His legislations, its
rare and amazing gems, its linguistic miracles, and its clear grace. In all of this, he was a
leader and example that everyone strove to imitate.
If someone were to recite some verses of the Mighty Qur’ān in one of his classes, he would
proceed to explain them, and his class would end with this. His class would last for a good
portion of the day, and he did not have a designated person to recite for him predetermined
verses that he would prepare for. Rather, any random person who was attending his class
would recite what was easy for him, and Ibn Taymiyyah would then explain whatever was
recited. He would usually not stop except that those in attendance would know that were it
not for the lack of time, he would have delved into what he was explaining from many, many
more angles. However, he would stop in order to allow his listeners to rest.
For example, he delivered a tafsīr of {“Say: ‘He is Allāh, One.’”} 10 that took up an entire
huge volume. Also, his tafsīr of {“The Beneficent ascended the Throne.”} 11 filled around
35 volumes, and I have been told that he began compiling a tafsīr that would have taken up
fifty volumes had he completed it.
As for his knowledge and insight into the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon
him), his statements, actions, life events, battles, armies, the miracles that Allāh granted him,
his knowledge of what is authentically narrated from him as opposed to what is unauthentic,
as well as the statements, actions, events, and legal verdicts of the Companions (may Allāh
be Pleased with them), their struggle for the sake of this Religion, and the virtues that they
were granted in exclusion to the rest of the Ummah – in all of this, he was the most precise
and had the most expertise, and was the quickest in retrieving whatever information he
needed regarding this. He would never mention a hadīth or fatwā that he would use as proof
for something except that he would reference it to its proper source in the texts of Islām, or
indicate if it was sahīh or hasan, etc., or mention the name of the Companion who narrated it,
and he was rarely asked about a narration except that he would clarify its authenticity.
And from the most amazing things that occurred is that during his first trial in Egypt, he was
taken and jailed such that he was prevented from having access to his books. During this
time, he authored many books - small and large - and mentioned in them a great number of
ahādīth, narrations, statements of the Companions, names of the scholars of Hadīth, authors,
and their works, and he attributed each of these to their proper sources, specifically by name.
10 al-Ikhlās; 1
11 Ta Ha; 5
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