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Fatwa CenterHow Imams Like Ibn Taimiyyah, may Allaah have mercy upon him, Reached High Status
Question
How can a alim ulama like Imam Ibn Taimiyyah have such a high status? What are their daily activities to have a high manzilah?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah 
and other Imams of the religion reached that great status with patience, certainty and diligence. His student Ibn al-Qayyim who had reached a great position in knowledge and action said in his book Madarij as-Salikeen:
“I heard Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah – may Allah sanctify his soul – say: “It is with patience and certainty that the Imamate in religion is achieved. Then he recited the saying of Allah (which means): {And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of Our signs.} [Quran 32: 24] [End of quote]
He [Ibn al-Qayyim ] said in I’laam al-Muwaqi’een: “Allah, Most High, informed us that He made them Imams [the state of being an Imam in the religion (a righteous role model)] that are followed by the people who came after them because of their patience and certainty, because it is with patience and certainty that the Imamate in religion is achieved. The caller to Allah will not achieve his target except with his certainty of the truth that he calls for, his insight into it, and his patience to implement the call to Allah while bearing the hardships of the call and suppressing his own self from what weakens his resolve and weakens his will; for whoever was in this capacity was one of the Imams who guide by His command.” [End of quote]
He also said in Miftah Dar as-Sa’adah: “Certainty is the perfection of knowledge and its goal, so by completing the rank of knowledge, the Imamate of religion is obtained.” [End of quote]
These Imams, like all human beings, have daily needs and interests that they achieved like all other human beings, but they had been patient upon the obedience of Allah, His painful predestinations, and patient in Da’wah (calling people to Allah). They were also blessed with the love of knowledge and worked hard to seek it and act according to it, along with what Allah blessed them with the power of understanding, intelligence, purity of the soul, and the goodness of the educational incubator in which they grew up. Therefore, Allah prepared them to carry the message of Islam and carry out the Call to it until they became Imams to be emulated; that is the Grace of Allah, He grants it to whoever He wills.
Allah knows best.
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