Al-Barzalī said: In that same year, during the month of Shawwāl, the Sufis of Cairo lodged a complaint with the authorities against Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) because of his comments about Ibn ʿArabī and others. The case was referred to the Shāfiʿī judge; a hearing was convened, and Ibn ʿAṭā (1) levelled various accusations against him, none of which could be proven. Nevertheless, he declared: “Deliverance is sought only from Allah; one does not seek rescue from the Prophet through the wording of istighātha (imploring rescue). Rather, one may seek nearness through him (tawassul) and ask that his intercession be accepted by Allah.” Some of those present said that this involved no wrongdoing, whereas the judge Badr al-Dīn Ibn Jamāʿah considered it disrespectful. A message then reached the judge instructing him to proceed with whatever the Sharīʿah required; he replied, “I have already said to him what is customarily said to someone in his situation.”
The authorities then gave him several options: either to go to Damascus, or to Alexandria under specified conditions (2), or to face imprisonment. He chose imprisonment. A group of his companions approached him, urging him to travel to Damascus while pledging to observe the stipulated conditions, and—so as to reassure them—he agreed to their preference. On the night of the eighteenth of Shawwāl he mounted a post horse and set out, but the next day another courier was sent after him, he was brought back, and he appeared
Then he ordered a session to be convened at the Dar al-‘Adl (House of Justice). A gathering was held there for him—one he loved and longed for—where judges and fuqaha (jurists) assembled. In that assembly, the Sheikh’s knowledge, courage, strength of heart, sincere trust in God (tawakkul), and clarity of argument shone forth in a manner beyond any describer’s words, even though he stood alone while they were all opposed to him. It was a momentous occasion. Many jurists who disagreed with him asked, “From where did you acquire this knowledge?” He replied, “From where you do not know.”
A number of those present reported that when the session broke up, the Sheikh, accompanied by some of his disciples, went to a spot within the Dar al-‘Adl. There he lay on his back, placed a stone (hajar) under his head, and rested briefly. Then he sat up. One of the onlookers said to him, “O my master, people’s hostility toward you has grown fierce!” He answered, “They are but like flies,” raised his hand to his mouth, blew them away, and rose. We all rose with him and departed the Dar al-‘Adl. A horse was brought; he mounted it, placed the bit in his mouth, and I saw no one stronger of heart, braver, or more formidable than him.
As complaints and denigrations against him increased, an order was issued to send him to Syria. He set out on the night of Thursday the 18th of the month, but he was brought back the following Thursday. On Friday night, the 9th of Shawwal, he was locked up in the governor’s prison in the Dailam quarter. Upon entering the prison, he found the inmates heedless, absorbed in various games—chess, backgammon, and the like—that distracted them from their plight and led them to neglect their prayers. He rebuked them sternly, ordered them to observe the prayers, to turn to God with righteous deeds, to engage in tasbih (glorification), seek forgiveness (istighfar), and make supplication (du‘a’). He taught them from the sunnah what they needed, encouraged them toward acts of piety, and urged them on. Thus the prison, by virtue of its devotion to knowledge and religion, became better than many zawiyas (Sufi lodges), ribats (frontier retreats), khanqahs (Sufi convents), and madrasas (Islamic schools). When inmates were released, some chose to remain there, unwilling to depart because of the spiritual good they found. So many came to him that the prison was filled by their presence. This growing attendance alarmed his enemies and constricted their hearts. They demanded his transfer to Alexandria, hoping to turn people’s hearts away from him and cut off his influence—but God willed that his renown be exalted and the hearts of all be united upon him.
(1) He is Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh al-Iskandarī al-Malikī al-Ṣūfī. He died in 709 AH. His biography is found in al-Dalīl al-Shāfīʿ, vol. 1, p. 78.
(2) In the printed edition: with stipulations.