Cited by 3Islamic Studies and HistoryIslamic Thought and Society StudiesQur’anic Interpretation Studies

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Ibn al-Jawzī and the Cursing of Yazīd b . Muʿāwiya: A Debate on Rebellion and Legitimate Rulership

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Liew, Han Hsien·2021·Journal of the American Oriental Society

Abstract

This article examines how Muslim religious scholars find space within political and legal discourses to deal with thorny issues such as rebellion. It takes as its case study a treatise by Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) regarding the permissibility to curse the second Umayyad caliph Yazīd b. Mu'āwiya. Although written to address the cursing of Yazīd, the treatise also speaks to questions regarding rulership and rebellion. Overall, the article argues that Ibn al-Jawzī adopted a juristically prudent approach to rebellion against an unjust and sinful ruler which synthesizes various elements of the Sunni caliphate discourse and the Islamic legal discourse on the treatment of rebels. This allowed him to shift the debate from one on the permissibility of rebellion to one on the question of legitimacy, thus enabling him to justify actions against Yazīd without overtly condoning the act of rebellion.

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Crossref · 10.7817/jameroriesoci.139.3.0631

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Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Kenney, Muslim Rebels, 24; A . R . Gaiser, Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers: The Origin and Elaboration of the Ibāḍī Imāmate Traditions (New York: Oxford Univ . Press, 2010), 39;
  2. K . Lewinstein, "Kharijis," in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, ed . G . Bowering et al . (Princeton: Princeton Univ . Press, 2013), 294-95 .
  3. jurist, paraphrases numerous passages from the Radd-including that of al-Ḥusayn rebelling to resist falsehood-in his treatise al-Ādāb al-sharʿiyya when discussing the issue of cursing . 82 Ibn Mufliḥ was thus clearly aware of and had perhaps even read the Radd . Immediately after these passages, however, he quotes Ibn Taymiyya ("al-shaykh Taqī al-Dīn"): "Ibn al-Jawzī permitted rebellion against an unjust [ruler]" (qad jawwaza Ibn al-Jawzī al-khurūj ʿalā ghayr al-ʿādil), 83 recasting Ibn al-Jawzī's ideas in a more radical light . Ibn al-Jawzī's statement on al-Ḥusayn's uprising would go on to be cited as a legal prec- edent in Ḥanbalī law books, though by way of Ibn Taymiyya's misconstrued formulation . In the chapter on the treatment of rebels (aḥkām al-bughāt) in Ibn Mufliḥ's Ḥanbalī law compendium, Kitāb al-Furūʿ, it is stated: "Ibn ʿAqīl and Ibn al-Jawzī permit rebellion against an unjust ruler, and they mention al-Ḥusayn's rebellion against Yazīd for the sake of estab- lishing what is rightful ." Ibn Mufliḥ also mentions non-Ḥanbalī scholars: al-Juwaynī (d . 478/1085) condones rebellion against a ruler who transgresses, even if it involves war and weapons; al-Nawawī (d . 676/1277) permits the deposition of an unjust ruler only if it does not lead to greater harm . Ibn Mufliḥ then refutes the pro-rebellion positions by saying, "The transmitted texts (nuṣūṣ) of Aḥmad [b . Ḥanbal stipulate] that [rebellion] is not permitted and that it is an innovation that contradicts the Sunna . Thus he called for patience . [ . . .] Our shaykh
  4. possibly Ibn Taymiyyasaid that the greatest grounds for the breakout of most civil wars is the lack of patience, since there are [only] two reasons for civil strife: ignorance or lack of patience ." 84 One century later, Ibn Mufliḥ's statements would be cited verbatim by ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī al-Mardāwī (d . 885/1480), a ninth/fifteenth-century Syrian Ḥanbalī jurist, in his law compendium, itself a detailed commentary on another Ḥanbalī law book by the Syrian Ḥanbalī jurist Muwaffaq al-Dīn b . Qudāma (d . 620/1223) entitled al-Mughnī . 85 As in Ibn Mufliḥ's Furūʿ, Ibn al-Jawzī's position is mentioned in the chapter on the treatment of rebels, with Ibn Mufliḥ's line about Ibn ʿAqīl and Ibn al-Jawzī reproduced word for word . 86 In sum, Ibn al-Jawzī's position on rebellion resounded enough to be cited as a legal prec- edent in Ḥanbalī legal compendiums, but as a precedent that ought not to be followed . It did not matter that he carefully framed al-Ḥusayn's act as one that was against a false claimant to power rather than a sinful caliph . The fact that he had defended al-Ḥusayn at all was enough of a red flag for politically conservative Ḥanbalī scholars during and after his time . Moreover, Ibn Taymiyya's and Ibn Mufliḥ's misconstruing of his views undermined their juristic prudence and prevented them from having any lasting impact on future generations of Ḥanbalīs .

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Metadata

Authors
Liew, H. H.
Affiliations
Keck Graduate Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Liew, Han Hsien
Venue
Journal of the American Oriental Society
Published
2021-09-19
Volume
139
Issue
3
ISSN
  • 0003-0279 (ISSN-L)
  • 2169-2289
OpenAlex
W2984172667
Cited by
3
References
4
Citations by year
2025: 2
FWCI
0.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
Journal of the American Oriental Society (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Islamic Studies and History
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Islamic Thought and Society Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Qur’anic Interpretation Studies
Keywords
Ibn al-Jawzi, legitimacy of rulership, Umayyad Caliphate, political theology, Islamic jurisprudence

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