Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi

Abu al-Faraj Jamal al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hasan Ali Al-Jawzi also known as Ibn al-Jawzi (16 June 1201) was a Muslim jurisconsult, preacher, orator, heresiographer, traditionist, historian, judge, hagiographer, and philologist Although Ibn al-Jawzi's scholarly career continued to blossom over the next few years, he became most famous during the reign of al-Mustadi (d. 1180), the thirty-third Abbasid caliph, whose support for Hanbalism allowed Ibn al-Jawzi to effectively become "one of the most influential persons" in Baghdad, due to the caliph's approval of Ibn al-Jawzi's public sermonizing to huge crowds in both pastoral and urban areas throughout Baghdad. Ibn al-Jawzi's lineage back to him is as follows: Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Abdullah ibn Hammadi ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ja`far al-Jawzi ibn Abdullah ibn al-Qasim ibn al-Nadr ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq al-Taymi al-Qurayshi. His ninth-generation forefather, Jafar ibn Abdullah Al-Bakri, was known as al-Jawzi, hence the family name. His family had become wealthy through their involvement in the copper trade, and Al-Jawzi grew up in luxury. in all the principal disciplines of the period, In his early works he criticized speculation in theology, in particular modernizing trends among the Sufis. A year or so prior to this, however, Ibn al-Jawzi had already begun his career as a preacher, as Ibn Hubayra had given him free rein to deliver his passionate sermons every Friday in the vizer's own house. After al-Muqtafi's death, the succeeding caliph, al-Mustanjid (d. 1170), called upon Ibn al-Jawzi to preach his sermons in the Caliph's palace mosque – one of the most prominent houses of worship in the whole of Baghdad – during the three campaigns of Nur al-Din Zengi against the tottering Fatimid Caliphate. After the ascendancy of the new caliph, al-Nasir (d. 1235), to the Abbasid throne, Ibn al-Jawzi initially maintained amicable relations with the state power by way of his friendship with the caliph's Hanbali vizier, Ibn Yūnus (d. 1197). In the same way, Ibn al-Jawzi also commended Ibn Hanbal for having drunk from the Prophet's bowl (technically a "second-class" relic) in order to seek blessings from it. Regarding saints, Ibn al-Jawzi said:

The saints and the righteous are the very purpose of all that exists (al-awliya wa-al-salihun hum al-maqsud min al-kawn): they are those who learned and practiced with the reality of knowledge... Those who practice what they know, do with little in the world, seek the next world, remain ready to leave from one to the other with wakeful eyes and good provision, as opposed to those renowned purely for their knowledge."

Sufism Ibn al-Jawzi evidently held that Sufism or tasawwuf was an integral aspect of Islamic practice. As has been noted by scholars, his Talbīs Iblīs, which criticizes innovations in all the major Islamic sciences, including tafsir and fiqh, is by no means a rejection of Sufism as a whole. On the contrary, the Hanbali jurist wrote many books on the merits of the early mystics and saints, including Manaqib Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya, Manaqib Ma`ruf al-Karkhi, Manaqib Ibrahim ibn Adham, Manaqib Bishr al-Hafi, and others.

Theology Ibn al-Jawzi is famous for the theological stance that he took against other Hanbalites of the time, in particular Ibn Hamid al-Warraq, al-Qadi Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' and Ibn al-Zaghuni. He believed that these and other Hanbalites had gone to extremes in affirming God's Attributes, so much so that he accused them of tarnishing the reputation of Hanbalites and making it synonymous with extreme anthropomorphism (likening God to his creation). Ibn al-Jawzi stated that,

"They believed that He has a form and a face in addition to His Self. They believed that He has two eyes, a mouth, a uvula and molars, a face which is light and splendor, two hands, including the palms of hands, fingers including the little fingers and the thumbs, a back, and two legs divided into thighs and shanks."

And he continued his attack on Abu Ya'la by stating that, "Whoever confirms that God has molars as a divine attribute, has absolutely no knowledge of Islam."

Ibn al-Jawzi's most famous work in this regard is his Bāz al‐ašhab al‐munqadd 'alà muhālifī al‐madhab (The Gray Falcon Which Attacks the Offenders of the [Hanbalī] School). To him, "being inside or outside are concomitant of things located in space" i.e. what is outside or inside must be in a place, and, according to him, this is not applicable to God. Recently, Professor Abdul Hameed al-Aloojee, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extent of ibn al Jawzi's works and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al Jawzees's works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. Some have suggested that he is the author of more than 700 works.

In addition to the topic of religion, Ibn al-Jawzi wrote about medicine as well. Like the medicinal works of Al-Suyuti, Ibn al-Jawzi's book was almost exclusively based on Prophetic medicine rather than a synthesis of both Islamic and Greek medicine like the works of Al-Dhahabi. Ibn al-Jawzi's work focused primarily on diet and natural remedies for both serious ailments such as rabies and smallpox and simple conditions such as headaches and nosebleeds. A Great Collection of Fabricated Traditions Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih Sifatu al-Safwah, five parts, reworking of Hilyat al-Awliya by the 11th century scholar Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani Ādāb al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī wa-Zuhduh wa-Mawaʿiẓuh (The Manners of Hasan al-Basri, his Asceticism, and his Exhortations) Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir Talbīs Iblīs Tadhkirah Uli Al-Basāir fī Ma'rifah Al-Kabāir Gharīb Al-Ḥadīth Ahkam Al-Nisa Molid Al-Urus Hifdh Al-'Umr Bayan-ul-Miladun-Nabavi'''Bahr Al-Damou'''

Tomb The tomb of Ibn Al-Jawzi is located at Baghdad, Iraq. The tomb is a simple green cement slab surrounded by rocks, and a paper sign on it indicating it is the tomb. In 2019 rumors spread about the tomb being removed after a photo was released showing the removal of the tomb. However, the Iraqi officials denied it.