The Removal of Blame from the Great Imāms - Rafʿ al-Malām ʿAn al-Aʾimmah al-Aʿlām - An Annotated Translation

Aug 6, 2026

Upload by Quinn

Rafʿ al-Malām ʿAn al-Aʾimmah al-Aʿlām presents Ibn Taymiyyah as a jurist arguing for tolerance in cases of legal disagreement among Muslim scholars. The introduction frames Ibn Taymiyyah’s life amid political fragmentation, upheaval, imprisonment, and debates over Hadith practice versus broader legal methodologies. It explains his claim that a Mujtahid may depart from a literal Hadith by following his Usūl, and that genuine errors do not justify blame. The work seeks to identify causes of Ikhtilāf and absolve jurists from fault while retaining disciplined reasoning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages91

Reading Time3 h 49 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Ibn Taymiyyah’s life and historical context

Reassessing anti-rationalist portrayals

Mujtahid methodology and departures from Hadith

Jurisprudential disagreement and causes of Ikhtilāf

Honoring legal imitation (Taqlīd) and independent reasoning (Ijtihād)

Purpose and organization of the translation

[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) © Dar Ul Thaqafah, All Rights Reserved [www.darulthaqafah.com](www.darulthaqafah.com) [https://twitter.com/darulthaqafah](https://twitter.com/darulthaqafah) Email: [darulthaqafah@gmail.com](darulthaqafah@gmail.com) No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored, or transmitted in any form – printed, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise – without prior written permission from the publisher. Find our titles on your favourite online bookstore using the keyword ‘Dar Ul Thaqafah’ Translation of the Qur’ān It should be perfectly clear that the Qur’ān is only authentic in its original language, Arabic. Since perfect translation of the Qur’ān is impossible, we have used the translation of the meaning of the Qur’ān throughout the book, as the result is only a crude meaning of the Arabic text. Qur ’ānic verses appear in speech marks proceeded by a reference to the Surah and verse number. Sayings (Hadith) of Prophet Muhammad (saw) appear in inverted commas along with reference to the Hadith Book and its Reporter. [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) The Removal of Blame from the Great Imāms: An Annotated Translation of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Raf ul-Malām An al-A immah al-A lām AHMAD IBN ʿABDAL-HALIM IBN TAYMIYYAH Tr. and Ann. ABDUL HAKIM AL-MATROUDI [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) Introduction Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Qāsim al-Khaḍir ibn Muḥammad ibn Taymiyyah 1 (661-728/1263-1328) is arguably the most distinguished and influential medieval Ḥanbalī jurist2 and perhaps one of the most prolific among them.3 He was born in Harran (present-day Turkey) and lived during the era of the first Mamlūks (648- 784/1250-1382) . However, he was forced to move from his native region and take up residence in Damascus due to the Mongol onslaught from the East.4 He lived in turbulent times when Muslim political fragmentation was clearly visible. Moreover, legal fanaticism and doctrinal laxity prevailed in Muslim lands, and he is historically portrayed as someone who sought to rectify both religious and political disparities and deviancies, which led to open encounters with his contemporaries as well as to long spells in prison.5 Ibn Taymiyyah is often seen through a simplistic anti-rationalist prism, that is, as someone with strict and literal inclinations towards Ḥadīth, which he overemphasised and preferred to the acceptance of broader legal theories and principles. The present text would suffice to undermine that view. Raf ʿ al-Malām ʿAn al-A ʾimmah al-A ʿlām is a short text in which the reader observes Ibn Taymiyyah as a jurist par excellence. In this treatise, which has a balanced tone and is couched in erudite language, he proceeds to argue as to why a Mujtahid might depart from directly acting upon a Ḥadīth text and follow instead his methodological principles ( Uṣūl) . This forms the basis of his delineating the reasons underlying the disagreements found among Muslim jurists in general and their holding differing legal opinions and proffering divergent arguments in support of those opinions. It is interesting that Ibn Taymiyyah turned down the request of some of his students to compose a treatise in the Science of Jurisprudence ( Uṣūlal-Fiqh), which would contain all of his jurisprudential opinions and preferences in order to be used as a basis for issuing legal verdicts (Fatāwā) . He justified his refusal by pointing out that rulings on jurisprudential issues are based upon independent reasoning (Ijtihād) and there is no harm for the subject of the law (Mukallaf) to imitate a Mujtahid for that purpose.6 Thus, Ibn Taymiyyah did not see the existence of various jurisprudential approaches to be problematic; rather, he believed that the real problem lay in intolerance and fanaticism. In Raf ʿ al-Malām, Ibn Taymiyyah pleads for tolerance by identifying the different possible causes for jurisprudential disagreements (Ikhtilāf) and seeks to

FAQs

Why does the book emphasize that perfect Qur’ān translation is impossible?

It states that the Qur’ān is only authentic in Arabic and that perfect translation is impossible, so the book uses meanings rather than a fully equivalent rendering.

What argument does Ibn Taymiyyah make about a Mujtahid departing from acting directly on a Hadith?

He argues that legal judgments may follow methodological principles (Usūl) rather than literal direct application of a Hadith text.

How does Rafʿ al-Malām address blame in cases of jurisprudential disagreement?

It identifies possible causes of Ikhtilāf and seeks to absolve the Mujtahid of blame for error or for departing from a Hadith in judgment.

Aug 6, 2026

Upload by Quinn