Ibn Taymiyah's Essay on the Jinn (Demons)

Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips has rendered Ibn Taymiyahâs treatise, âEedâh ad-Dalâlah fee âUmoom ar-Risâlahâ, from volume 19 of Majmooâ al-Fatâwâ (A Collection of Religious Rulings) into very readable English. This abridged and annotated translation is significant in that it is perhaps the first book available in English exclusively on the topic of spirit-possession and exorcism in Islam. Shaykh Ibn Taymiyahâs treatise provides a very clear, concise, and authentic view of this intriguing subject based on the Qurâan, the Sunnah, the interpretation and experience of the Companions of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and the early scholars of Islam. The translator has also added an appendix consisting of an article written on the subject of spirit-possession and exorcism by one of the leading contemporary scholars of Saudi Arabia confirming Ibn Taymiyahâs views as both relevant and orthodox.

Ahmad ibn âAbdul-Haleem ibn Taymeeyah was born in the town of Harran [near Edessa, in what was once Northern Iraq, but is now called Orfa and is a part of Turkey], in the year 1263 CE. His father was a leading scholar of the Hanbalite school of Islamic law and so was his grandfather, who authored Muntaqaa al-Akhbaar, the text of ash-Shawkaaneeâs Hadeeth classic Nayl al-Awtaar.

Ibn Taymeeyah mastered the various disciplines of Islamic study at an early age and read extensively the books of the various sects and religions in existence at that time. Much of his time and effort was spend defending the orthodox Islamic position against a tidal wave of deviation which had swept over the Muslim nation. Consequently, he faced many difficulties from both the prominent sectarian scholars of his time and from the authorities who supported them. His clashes with them led to his imprisonment on numerous occasions. Ibn Taymeeyah also fought, not only against internal enemies of Islaam, but also against its external enemies by both his Fatwaas (Islamic legal rulings) and his physical participation in battles. His ruling allowing the taking up arms against groups which recognized the Shahaadataan (declaration of faith) but refused to uphold some aspects of the fundamental principles of Islaam, greatly affected the resistance movement against the Tartars who had declared their acceptance of Islaam but did not rule according to divine law. During these struggles he wrote countless books and treatises demonstrating his extensive reading and knowledge, not only of the positions of the early scholars, but also those of the legal and theological schools which had subsequently evolved.