Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH) on Tafwīḍ

This piece examines a striking tension in Ibn Taymiyya’s writings on delegation of meaning [tafwīḍ al-maʿnā] in matters of the divine attributes [ṣifāt] of Allah. While he is widely known for his forceful condemnation of tafwīḍ al-maʿnā — going so far as to number it among “the most evil of the positions of the people of innovation and heresy” — a close reading of his own Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā reveals language that appears to affirm the very position he elsewhere rejects, where he approvingly cites Imam al-Shāfiʿī’s own words in support of this same reading. By placing these two texts side by side, this piece invites the reader to consider whether Ibn Taymiyya’s stated position on tafwīḍ al-maʿnā is as settled and consistent as is often assumed.

Ibn Taymiyya stated about Tafwīḍ al-Maʿnā in his Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql (1/121):

فتبين أن قول أهل التفويض الذين يزعمون أنهم متبعون للسنة والسلف من شر أقوال أهل البدع والإلحاد.

“It has thus become clear that the position of the people of delegation [ahl al-tafwīḍ] — who claim to be followers of the Sunna and the Salaf — is among the most evil of the positions of the people of innovation and heresy.”

This verdict of his is at odds with many scholars of the past and not only that, Ibn Taymiyya seems to contradict himself in his Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (4/2), where he stated:

“بَلْ أَمَرُوهَا كَمَا جَاءَتْ وَرَدُّوا عِلْمَهَا إلَى قَائِلِهَا؛ وَمَعْنَاهَا إلَى الْمُتَكَلِّمِ بِهَا. وَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ – وَيُرْوَى عَنْ الشَّافِعِيِّ -: ‘آمَنْت بِمَا جَاءَ عَنْ اللَّهِ وَبِمَا جَاءَ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَلَى مُرَادِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ’. وَعَلِمُوا أَنَّ الْمُتَكَلِّمَ بِهَا صَادِقٌ لَا شَكَّ فِي صِدْقِهِ فَصَدَّقُوهُ وَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا حَقِيقَةَ مَعْنَاهَا فَسَكَتُوا عَمَّا لَمْ يَعْلَمُوهُ”

“Rather they let them pass [amarrūhā] as they came, and referred knowledge [ʿilm] of them back to the One who spoke them, and their meaning [maʿnāhā] back to the One who uttered them. And some of them said — and it is also related from al-Shāfiʿī — ‘I believe in what has come from Allah, and in what has come from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, according to the intent of the Messenger of Allah [ʿalā murād Rasūl Allāh].’ And they knew that the One who spoke them is truthful, with no doubt in His truthfulness, so they affirmed Him as truthful, and they did not know the reality of their meaning [ḥaqīqat maʿnāhā], and so they remained silent about what they did not know.”

This is a direct statement that the meaning itself, not merely the modality [kayfiyya], was left unknown and consigned back to Allah, which is the very definition of delegation of meaning [tafwīḍ al-maʿnā] that he elsewhere condemns, such as in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql. What further strengthens this reading is that he does not stop at his own formulation — he also approvingly relates the words attributed to Imam al-Shāfiʿī, affirming belief in what has come ‘according to the intent of the Messenger of Allah,’ and then continues, describing this same group of salaf, that ‘they did not know the reality of their meaning [ḥaqīqat maʿnāhā].’

By citing al-Shāfiʿī’s formula in support of the same point, Ibn Taymiyya reinforces — with the authority of one of the four Mujtahid Imams — the very reading of tafwīḍ al-maʿnā that the passage as a whole conveys, making it harder to dismiss the passage as merely his own imprecise or isolated wording.

Compiled by:

Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed

Monday 14th September 2026/3rd of Rabī’ al-Thānī 1448AH
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