Gifts of Knowledge

Ibn Abdul-Hādī, said, “And one of them [i.e., the scholars who accompanied Ibn Taymiyyah and learnt from him] was the Shaikh, the Imām, the Exemplary, the Abstemious, the Knower [of Allaah], ʿImādud-Dīn Abul-ʿAbbās Aḥmad bin Ibrāhīm bin ʿAbdur-Raḥmān al-Wāsiṭī, known as Ibn Shaikh al-Ḥazzāmīn, he was a righteous man, scrupulous … he wrote a missive to a group of Ibn Taymiyyah’s companions, advising them to stick to the Shaikh and encouraging them to follow his way and praised him greatly, and this is a copy of the letter …”

One of the things Ibn Shaikh al-Ḥazzāmīn wrote in that letter was, “We haven’t seen, in this time of ours, anyone through whose speech and actions the Muhammadan Prophethood and its Sunnah have been brought to light except this man—such that the sound heart testifies that this, this is true following.”
At-Tadhkirah wal-Iʿtibār wal-Intiṣār lil-Abrār Difāʿan ʿan Ibn Taymiyyah, pp. 11-12 and 44.

Al-Bazzaar said about Ibn Taymiyyah, “And he wouldn’t become fed up of anyone asking him for a verdict [fatwa] or questions, rather he would greet them with a happy face, mild-mannered, and stay with them until the questioner would be the one to part first, whether young or old, man or woman, free person or slave, scholar or commoner, city-dweller or bedouin—he wouldn’t refuse anyone or embarrass them or drive them away by saying anything that would make them feel uneasy, but would instead answer them and make them understand and show them what was correct from what was not, all with gentleness and pleasantly.”

Al-Aʿlām al-ʿAliyyah fī Manāqibi Shaikhil-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, pp. 48-49.

Al-Bazzār said, “I never saw anyone honour and venerate the Shaikh more than his brother who was the one supporting him [in his worldly affairs]. He used to sit in the Shaikh’s presence as though there was a bird perched on his head [i.e., deadly still]. And would respect him the way you would a Sultan [i.e., a ruler].

We would marvel at that and said to him, ‘Normal custom and habit dictates that a person’s family aren’t as reserved with him as outsiders, and that in fact they relax with him more than a stranger, but we see you with the Shaikh like a student of his in your clear awe and reverence of him.’

So he said, ‘I see things from him that other people don’t, things which oblige me to be with him as you see.’

He would be asked to expound on that but would not mention a single thing due to him knowing that the Shaikh didn’t want it.”
Al-Aʿlām al-ʿAliyyah fī Manāqibi Shaikhil-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, p. 52.

Ibn Rajab said, “And it has reached me through an authentic line of transmission from Ibn az-Zamlakānī that he was asked about the Shaikh, i.e., Ibn Taymiyyah, so he said, “No one greater in memorisation than him has been seen in five hundred years …”

Ash-Shahādah az-Zakiyyah fī Thanāʾil-Aʾimmah ʿalā Ibn Taymiyyah, p. 36.

Imaam al-Bazzaar said, “As for his lessons, I wouldn’t miss them while I was resident in Damascus. He wouldn’t prepare anything beforehand that he was about to teach or present, instead he would sit after praying two rakʿahs and then praise Allāh and extol Him and send ṣalāh on His Messenger ﷺ, in a pleasant, beautiful manner which I had never heard before.

And then he would begin.

Allāh would aid him in conveying knowledge and subtle, fine, delicate points, and different specialties, and in citing narrations, and in drawing answers from verses and ḥadīths, and sayings of the scholars, examining some of them and expounding on their validity or whether spurious, clarifying his argument, citing the poetry of the Arabs as proof, at times mentioning the name of the poet too—all the while in doing so he would be running forth like a river, overflowing like the sea, and he would, from the time he started speaking until he finished, be as though absent from those around him.

Eyes closed.

All done unintentionally, speaking without haughtiness, or stopping or mistakes, but rather a divine gift bestowed on him, such that whoever was listening or saw him would be dazzled, and he would remain like that until he went silent.

I would see him during all this as though in the presence of one preoccupying him from others, and at that time he would be held in awe which would cause the people’s hearts to shudder and astonish the eyes and minds … and upon finishing his lesson he would open his eyes and turn to the people with a cheerful face, smiling, gentle-mannered, as though he was only then meeting them, and even apologizing for any shortcomings in what he may have said whilst in that state, and a number of notebooks could be written out of the lesson, and what I mention here about it is well-known, everyone present will agree with me on it, and they are numerous, walḥamdulillāh, such that how many they are can’t be counted, reciters, ḥadīth scholars, fiqh scholars, writers, and the general Muslims.”
Al-Aʿlām al-ʿAliyyah fī Manāqibi Shaikhil-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, pp. 28-30.