Question: Who is Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya?
ANSWER
In the beginning, he attained proficiency in the fiqh of the Hanbali Madhhab but later learnt many branches of knowledge from Ibn Taymiyyah nearly for 15 years. He authored a lot of books and fought a battle against philosophers, Christians, and Jews. In every respect, he became a loyal student to his teacher, whose literary style he adopted. He was charmed by Ibn Taymiyyah's false beliefs that went against Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah and began to defend his fatwas and heretical views written in his works. He had a high opinion of his own views and attempted to mentally solve unintelligible knowledge and the Divine mysteries that Sufi masters experienced. Thus, he deviated from the path of Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah.

Especially in Al-Qasidat-un-Nuniyya and in his other works, he claims that Allahu ta'ala resembles creation in some respects and that He is an object. He even attributes a place to Him in his books Badai-ul-Fawaid and Al-Jawab-ul-Kafi. Similarly, Ibn Taymiyyah interpreted the word istiwa wrongly in his book Kitab-ul-'Arsh and said, "Allah sits on the 'Arsh [never!]." However, Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani, one of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah, stated:

"Allahu ta’ala is beyond any limitations of time, place, and direction. He is not at a place or at any side. It is He who created time, places, and directions. An ignorant person thinks that He is up on the ’Arsh or in the sky. The ’Arsh, beings above it and below it are all His creatures. He created all these afterwards. Something that has been created afterwards cannot be a place for One who is eternal and always exists" (Vol. 2, Letter 67).

Ibn Qayyim said "The torment in Hell for disbelievers will not be eternal," just as Ibn Taymiyyah said. He accused those Muslims who visited graves of apostasy and also called for the demolition of tombs (turba). Ibn Taymiyyah called for the same thing, too. He even spoke ill of our Master the Prophet and claimed that he was stripped of all his qualities after his demise and became no different from other people. Interpreting pertinent ahadith, information, and the words of scholars into different things, he had many heretical ideas that went against the creed of Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah. For this reason, he was heavily criticized by Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah scholars. He was jailed in the citadel of Damascus together with Ibn Taymiyyah, his teacher. He was set free after the death of his teacher.