380 Jon Hoover
1. ʿAlī al-Ḥarbī’s Predicament
ʿAlī al-Ḥarbī is generous in detailing the circumstances that led him
to try to demonstrate Ibn Taymiyya’s and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s
adherence to classical Sunni doctrine, and the narrative of his travail
is a major rhetorical feature of Kashf al-astār. To fully appreciate
al-Ḥarbī’s story, however, it must be kept in mind that Ibn Taymiyya’s
Fanāʾ al-nār was not clearly identified or published in its entirety until
1995, well after al-Ḥarbī completed his Kashf al-astār in 1990. More-
over, while Ibn Taymiyya does appear in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s
Ḥādī al-arwāḥ by name, Ḥādī al-arwāḥ’s debt to Fanāʾ al-nār is not
apparent without direct comparison to the latter text. Nor can Ibn
Taymiyya’s views be ascertained with any degree of confidence solely
from Ḥādī al-arwāḥ.
Al-Ḥarbī reports that he initially encountered the problem of the
duration of the Fire while preparing his doctoral thesis at the Umm
al-Qurā University in Mecca on the theological doctrines of Ibn
al-Wazīr (d. 840/1436). Ibn al-Wazīr was first in the line of traditional-
ist scholars that emerged out of the Zaydī scholarly tradition in Yemen
and later produced Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1250/1834).^10 Accord-
ing to al-Ḥarbī, Ibn al-Wazīr first leaned toward belief in the Fire’s
eventual passing but then decided to withhold judgment on the matter.
Ibn al-Wazīr also said that Ibn Taymiyya and his followers argued that
God’s mercy and wise purpose precluded everlasting chastisement and
eternal Fire.^11
Ibn al-Wazīr’s claim about Ibn Taymiyya alarms al-Ḥarbī because
it renders two of his basic convictions contradictory. First, he believes
that Islamic doctrine teaches the eternity of the Fire, and, second,
he considers Ibn Taymiyya a great rejuvenator of Islam. Thus, for
al-Ḥarbī, it is simply unthinkable that such an eminent reformer of
the faith as Ibn Taymiyya could deny so basic an Islamic doctrine as
the eternity of Hell-Fire. The fact that Ibn al-Wazīr states otherwise
precipitates a cognitive crisis and spurs al-Ḥarbī to seek some kind of
resolution.^12
10 Al-Ḥarbī’s thesis is entitled Ibn al-Wazīr wa-ārāʾuhu al-iʿtiqādiyya. For basic
information on Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr, see Haykel, Bernard: Reviv-
al and Reform in Islam. The Legacy of Muhammad al-Shawkānī, Cambridge
2003, pp. 10, 41, 108.
11 Al-Ḥarbī, Kashf al-astār, pp. 6, 17–18, 25–28.
12 Ibid., pp. 4–5.
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