Ibn Taymiyyah Quotes

Whatever is not done by the permission of Allah will not happen, and what is not done for the sake of Allah will not benefit or remain. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

If you correct your hidden deeds subsequently, Allaah will correct your outward deeds. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Remembrance is to the heart what water is to the fish. And what is the state of a fish that leaves water? ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Imam Ibn Taymiyya has also stated clearly that a person who does not have the tools of ijtihād, that is, has not spent the many years learning Arabic, mastering Usul-al-Fiqh and Uloom al-Hadith, encompassing the Quranic and Hadithic texts, has no
right to assert an opinion and that rather, he must do taqlīd. ~ Muhammad Sajaad

A calamity that makes you turn to Allah is better for you then a blessing which makes you forget the remembrance of Allah ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The sincere hearts and the pious supplications are soldiers which can never be defeated ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The entire religion revolves around acknowledging the truth and then acting upon it. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Ibn Taymiyyah lived poorly. He was imprisoned and threatened. But I have never seen anyone as happy as him. ~ Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

The People of the Sunnah are the most knowledgeable of mankind concerning the truth, and the most merciful of the creation towards the rest of creation. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Don't depend too much on anyone ... ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The more humble, needy, and subdued you are before Allah, the closer you will be to Him. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Seek (beneficial) knowledge,
because seeking it for the sake of Allaah is a worship.
And knowing it makes you more God-fearing;
and searching for it is jihad,
teaching it to those who do not know is charity,
reviewing and learning it more is like tasbeeh.
Through knowledge Allaah will be known and worshiped. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Among the principles of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah lie the attitude of peace and purity of their heart and tongue towards the Sahaba(Companions) of the Prophet (saw). ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Allah guards the justice loving government, even if it is the government of non-Muslims, and destroys the tyrant government, even if it is the government of Muslims. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

This whole religion revolves around knowing the truth and acting by it, and action must be accompanied by patience. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The sign of the people of bid'ah is that they do not follow the salaf. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Whoever considers the Attributes of Allaah to be like the attributes of the creation, such that the Istawaa of Allaah is like the ascending of the creation, or His Descending (Nuzool) is like the descending of the creation or other than that, then he is a deviated innovator. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

What can you do with me? My jannah is in my heart! If you take me to jail, I will make zikr of Allah. If you exile me out of my land, I will make takaffur. If you execute me, I would be a shaheed. What can you do with me? Because I am not limited to this dunya. I am living for al-akhira! ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Ibn Taymiyyah was a worrying figure to the establishment. His return to the fundamentals of the Quran and sunnah and his denial of much of the rich spirituality and philosophy of Islam may have been reactionary, but it was also revolutionary. He outraged the conservative ulama, who clung to the textbook answers, and criticized the Mamluk government of Syria for practices which contravened Islamic law as he understood it. ~ Karen Armstrong

How many of us would be able to overcome our desires and resist the temptation of sin? How many of us even lower our gaze when we look upon something that we are not supposed to? The real prisoner is the one whose heart has been kept away from remembering his Lord, and the real captive is the one who has been captivated by his whims and desires. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Allah will support the just state even if it is led by unbelievers, but Allah will not support the oppressive state even if it is led by believers ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Some people have the disease of criticising all the time. They forget the good about others and only mention their faults. They are like flies that avoid the good and pure places and land on the bad and wounds. This is because of the evil within the self and the spoiled nature ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Perpetually is the servant either the recipient of a blessing from Allaah, in which case he is need of gratitude; or he is the perpetrator of sin, in which case he is in need of repentance; he is always moving from one blessing to another and is always is in need of repentance. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The one who is [truly] imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The highest degree of love is Tatayyum (total enthrallment). The lowest degree is 'alaqah (attachment), when the heart is attached to the beloved: then comes sabahah (infatuation), when the heart is poured out: then gharam (passion), when love never leaves the heart: the nashaq (ardent love), and finally tatayyum. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

What can my enemies do to me?
I have in my breast both my Heaven and my Garden.
If I travel they are with me, and they never leave me.
Imprisonment for me is a religious retreat [khalwa].
To be slain for me is martyrdom [shahada]
And to be exiled from my land is a spiritual journey [siyaha]. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Sins cause harm and repentance removes the cause ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Make tawba not just for sins you've committed, but also for obligations you haven't fulfilled. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Avoiding the temptation to sin and being patient upon that, is greater than being patient whilst being afflicted with trials. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart, it is with me wherever I go. To imprison me is to provide me with seclusion. To send me into exile is to send me away in the Path of Allah. And to kill me is to make me a martyr. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Through patience and certainty, leadership in the religion is obtained. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

The disease that knowledge brings is arrogance, and the disease that worship brings is showing off ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

You should not look at what the person used to do, rather you should
look at what kind of person they are today. The one who gets bogged
down about people's pasts, is just like Iblees who said to Allaah,
"You created me from fire and you created him from clay". ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Verily, I constantly renew my Islam until this very day, as up to now, I do not consider myself to have ever been a good Muslim. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Don't depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Beautiful leaving (hajr), is to leave without harming, beautiful pardoning is to pardon without rebuking, and beautiful patience is to be patient without complaining. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

A man will never fear something besides Allah unless it be due to a disease in his heart. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is to the heart as water is to a fish; see what happens to a fish when it is taken out of water ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

A believer to another believer is like two hands, one washes the other (correcting each other). ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

No love that a man has will only give him pleasure in return- he shall also suffer pain because of it, except for love of Allah. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Guidance is not attained except with knowledge and correct direction is not attained except with patience. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

In this world there is a paradise, whoever does not enter it will not enter the Paradise of the Hereafter. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Sins are like chains and locks preventing their perpetrator from roaming the vast garden of Tawheed and reaping the fruits of righteous actions. ~ Ibn Taymiyyah

Man is the child of customs, not the child of his ancestors. ~ Ibn Khaldun

Be afraid of a dignified man when he is hungry and a wicked man when his belly is full. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Monotheism is in its turn doomed to subtract one more God and become atheism ~ Ibn Warraq

If it had not been for this love, the universe would not have appeared in its source. Its
movement from non-existence to existence is the movement of the love of the One who
brings into existence for this purpose. The universe also loves to witness itself in existence as
it was witnessed in immutability. Thus by every aspect, the movement from immutable non-
existence to the existence of the sources is a movement of love, both in respect of Allah and
in respect to itself. ~ Ibn Arabi

Muslims pursued knowledge to the edges of the earth. Al-Biruni, the central Asian polymath, is arguably the world's first anthropologist. The great linguists of Iraq and Persia laid the foundations a thousand years ago for subjects only now coming to the forefront in language studies. Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the first true scientific historian, argued hundreds of years ago that history should be based upon facts and not myths or superstitions. The great psychologists of Islam known as the Sufis wrote treatise after treatise that rival the most advanced texts today on human psychology. The great ethicists and exegetes of Islam's past left tomes that fill countless shelves in the great libraries of the world, and many more of their texts remain in manuscript form.
In the foreword of "Being Muslim. A Practical Guide" by Dr. Asad Tarsin. ~ Hamza Yusuf

Associate with people in such a manner that they weep for you when you die and long for you if you are alive ~ Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

Love is an illness which doesn't have good nor recompense. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Sedentary culture is the goal of civilization. It means the end of its lifespan and brings about its corruption. ~ Ibn Khaldun

It is sufficient for you that the one who envies you is distressed at the time of your joy. ~ Uthman Ibn Affan

Be a good man to Allah and a bad man to yourself (desires); and be one of the commoners among the people ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

By working and living in New York, you are breathing Western civilization, continuously reminded of its benefits and its values. ~ Ibn Warraq

Thabit ibn Qurra (AD 836-901, and also born in Harran), would have had little patience with loaded terms like "star idolatry" which seek to place the "paganism" of the Sabians on a lower level than the deadly, and often bigoted, narrow-minded and unscientific clerical monotheism of religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Thabit was well aware that, underlying the ancient Sabian practices misunderstood by these young religions as "star idolatry," were indeed exact sciences of great benefit to mankind, and thus he wrote: 'Who else have civilized the world, and built the cities, if not the nobles and kings of Paganism? Who else have set in order the harbors and rivers? And who else have taught the hidden wisdom? To whom else has the Deity revealed itself, given oracles, and told about the future, if not the famous men among the Pagans? The Pagans have made known all this. They have discovered the art of healing the soul; they have also made known the art of healing the body. They have filled the earth with settled forms of government, and with wisdom, which is the highest good. Without Paganism the world would be empty and miserable. ~ Graham Hancock

It is absurd to think that the scientific views of a Muslim scientist are necessarily connected with his religious belief, or that he necessarily derives inspiration for his scientific work from faith. This was as true a thousand years ago as it is now. Alchemy provides an excellent example. Developed extensively by Jabir Ibn Hayyan and AI-Razi, and based on certain myths going back to Arius and Pythagoras, it was one of the most important Muslim contributions. Of course, today everyone knows that alchemy was scientific nonsense: there cannot be anything like the Philosopher's Stone, and the transformation of base metals like copper or tin into silver or gold by chemical means is an impossibility ~ Pervez Hoodbhoy

The Berbers belong to a powerful, formidable, and numerous people; a true people like so many others, the world has seen - like the Arabs, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. ~ Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Firnas was a polymath: a physician, a rather bad poet, the first to make glass from stones (quartz), a student of music, and inventor of some sort of metronome. ~ Lynn Townsend White, Jr.

«Since when you have taken people for slaves and they were born free» ~ Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

The heart is like a bird: love as its head and its two wings are hope and fear. ~ Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawzziya

Beware of the flight of Blessings,
For nothing that runs away is returned. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

A person of riyaa (showing off) has three characteristics : He is lazy when alone, energetic when with others, and increases in his actions when he is praised while decreasing in them when he is criticized. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Always, always, always love your mother.
No one else will ever love you like she does. ~ Ibn Jeem

Sorrow shatters my heart; And men distress it with blame, Because it follows love. ~ Moses Ibn Ezra

Whenever there remains any support for the ego within, even if it be only an atom's weight, then you are pretentious and have a devil who leads you astray. ~ Ibn Ata Allah

The truth hurts like a thorn at first; but in the end it blossoms like a rose ... ~ Samuel Ibn Naghrillah

Do not praise your own faith exclusively so that you disbelieve all the rest. If you do this you will miss much good. Nay, you will miss the whole truth of the matter. God, the Omniscient and the Omnipresent, cannot be confined to any one creed, for He says in the Quran, wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah. Everybody praises what he knows. His God is his own creature, and in praising it, he praises himself. Which he would not do if he were just, for his dislike is based on ignorance. ~ Ibn Arabi

Faith is the summit of the Torah. ~ Solomon Ibn Gabirol

The aim has priority in estimation, it is the last in existence, it is the principle according to the mind, and it is the end of the journey. ~ Ibn Qayyim Islamic Scholar

The rejection of Western democracy derives from the same rejection of secularism but was further sharpened by the Saudi Arabian establishment's aversion to democracy's subversive streak and the threat it posed to the Saudi monarchy if unleashed. Saudi scholars such as Sheikh Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid consistently attacked democracy and the freedoms it flaunted as anti-Islamic. Mohammed Yusuf was heavily influenced by the writings of Saudi-based scholars such as Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd-Allah Ibn Baaz (1910-99), and Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin ash Shanqiti (1907-73). As mentioned before, all of Yusuf's opponents side-stepped the issue of democracy being un-Islamic, thereby making the issue appear incontestable or settled. ~ Kyari Mohammed

Every hardship is like being in prison. People feel imprisoned by ill-health, marital discord, financial insecurity, family disputes and other problems. To anyone who feels imprisoned by life's problems I would say: be content with what you already have and never lose hope of things getting better. Be happy with your share because this is a quality of someone who truly loves Allah. When the Companion Muadh ibn Jabal (ra) was undergoing the pangs and agonies of death, he cried out, O Allah! Bear witness that I love You, so do with me whatsoever You wish! ~ Babar Ahmad

Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, the other kind are extremely worthy of criticism. The first are those who care nothing for the pleasures of the world and the second (i.e. those who are deserving of criticism) care nothing for haya or modesty. ~ Ibn Hazm

What indicates a person's weak religion and fear of God, is that he seeks for an opinion that suits his desire. ~ Ibn Hazm

When trouble arose between 'All and Mu'awiyah as a necessary consequence of group feeling, they were guided in (their dissensions) by the truth and by independent judgment. They did not fight for any worldly purpose or over preferences of no value, or for reasons of personal enmity. This might be suspected, and heretics might like to think so. However, what caused their difference was their independent judgment as to where the truth lay. It was on this matter that each side opposed the point of view of the other. It was for this that they fought. Even though 'Ali was in the right, Mu'awiyah's intentions were not bad ones. He wanted the truth, but he missed (it). Each was right in so far as his intentions were concerned. ~ Ibn Khaldun

One who is mild rather than forceful has greater capacity for outreach. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

O Alaah, i haven't worshiped you because of lusting of heaven or fearing of hill. I've worshiped you because you deserve to be worshiped. ~ Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Let us think of the human race as if it were a single human being," Ibn Rushd proposed. "A child understands nothing, and clings to faith because it lacks knowledge. The battle between reason and superstition may be seen as mankind's long adolescence, and the triumph of reason will be its coming of age. It is not that God does not exist but that like any proud parent he awaits the day when his child can stand on its own two feet, make its own way in the world, and be free of its dependence upon him. ~ Salman Rushdie

The realization of 'La ilaha illa Allah' is one of the states of the heart that can be neither expressed by the tongue nor thought out by the mind. ~ Ibn Ata Allah

I always have tendency to form very strong local attachments, so I was very keen to find out about the school I was going to, its history, and the countryside. I was acquiring a kind of English character if you like, Englishness about things and my attitudes. ~ Ibn Warraq