410 Abdessamad Belhaj
inner state of belief among the community members and looks after
their well-being as well. Ibn Taymiyya says, “much of the corrup-
tion in people’s affairs goes back to the disabling (taʿṭīl) of criminal
punishments”.^45 He is even more critical of people taking recourse to
money or nobility to escape such punishment. For him, this is one of
the main reasons for corruption.^46 With regard to fasād, Ibn Taymiyya
distinguishes between four categories of people:
Those who seek ascendancy over people and corruption on earth. Indeed,
these people commit a sin and are the corrupted kings and chiefs, like
pharaoh and his party;
who crave for corruption without ascendancy such as thieves, criminals
among abject people and the like;
who aspire to ascendancy without corruption like those who have reli-
gious authority or scholarship. This category is common among the
scholars and the pious;
The people of Paradise who want neither ascendancy nor corruption on
earth, though they may deserve a higher rank than the others.^47From this categorization, Ibn Taymiyya draws the conclusion,
[i]f the intent of political and financial power is to be closer to God and
keep on the divine path, this would lead to righteousness of life in this
world and in the hereafter. Conversely, if political power breaks away
from religion or vice versa, public affairs will be corrupted.^48What relationship does Ibn Taymiyya establish between fasād as pub-
lic corruption and as religious corruption? It seems that he considers
the corruption of the rulers as a cause of the corruption of the ruled.
Here again, the rulers are seen as the “guardians” of the Islamic public
order and not simply sultans or commanders of worldly affairs. Nev-
ertheless, the condition of the people could remain partially uncor-
rupted. Things could be worse in the absence of rulers, who incarnate
order.^49 Identically, Ibn al-Qayyim condemns immoral conduct with-
in the community. Above all, he reprobates the mixture of men and
women which, for him, is the origin of all sins. Judging from al-Ṭuruq
45 Ibn Taymiyya, al-Siyāsa al-sharʿiyya, p. 91.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid., p. 238.
48 Ibid., p. 240.
49 Bori, Caterina: Théologie politique et Islam à propos d’Ibn Taymiyya
(m. 728/1328) et du sultanat mamelouk, in: Revue de l’histoire des religions 224
(2007), pp. 5–46, here p. 24.
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