Was Ibn Sina a Muslim?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

Was Ibn Sina a Muslim?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

It is true that a number of scholars anathematized Ibn Sina due to the fact that he held views that were considered to be clear disbelief, which included:

(a) the pre-eternal nature of the cosmos,
(b) denial of bodily resurrection, and
(c) stating the God’s knowledge did not relate to particulars.

For this reason, scholars such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn al-Qayyim considered Ibn Sina to be a disbeliever. Similarly a number of other scholars had extremely harsh words for him referring to him as a heretic or a “devil”, such as Ibn al-Salah and Imam al-Kashmiri.

However, some scholars, such as Ibn Khalikan and al-Munawi, mention that Ibn Sina repented. Given this, one should affirm that the beliefs he held were heterodox, while possibly suspending judgment regarding his faith as an individual. And God knows best.

[Ibn Salah, Fatawa (1:209); al-Munawi, Sharh Qasida al-Nafs (5); al-Dhahabi, Siyar (17:532-35); al-Kashmiri, Fayd al-Bari (1:166)]

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.

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