Trying to project a repentance upon the scholars of Ahl Al-Sunnah due to your own scholars undergoing it will not do you much good.
Here is a short thread 🧵 on this straw they're clutching onto regarding Shaykh Al-Islam (rh)
1. There is no textual/tangible proof of these statements or the letters that Shaykh Al-Islam supposedly wrote in the court sittings.
They weren't documented and transmitted but people in that gathering just narrated what happened and passed it on unlike the kalami scholars who wrote in their own books before they died with undeniable proof that they repented and retracted from their mistakes in 'Aqeedah.
2. Shaykh Al-Islam was subjugated by the government and he was threatened with life imprisonment and even death as some of their scholars did takfeer on him.
Under this situation and pressure, the only thing we receive are mere narrations from people (not on his side necessarily) and even those accounts differ according to the historians who wrote on this. There is nothing concrete from what Shaykh Al-Islam said in those gatherings.
3. Imam Ibn Hajar (rh) relied on other sources of history for his book ad-Durar al-Kaaminah and not all of them are known to be the most reliable & authentic on the life of shaykhul Islam ibn taymiyyah.
What we find in Al-Durar Al-Kaaminah is the following: “a report was written that Ibn Taymiyyah admitted to be an Ash‘ari”. No proof that it came from Ibn Taymiyyah humself.
Shaykh Al-Islam writes his own biography and documents some of the major events in his life yet he didn't mention anything about a retraction.
Secondly, Imam al-Birzaali & ibn 'Abdul Hadi are known to have the most reliable and accepted biographies of the Shaykh and they didn't mention a retraction.
Al-Dhahabi also says that the people in the time of ibn taymiyyah (rh) used to write things about him or distort certain narrations deliberately to serve their agendas.
4. After all the books, open debates, letters to scholars, meetings with rulers, etc why would he suddenly make such a huge retraction in a private court session?
He was sought countless times while he was in prison to retract his views and was even threatened on them but not only did he stay steadfast but also wrote books in the dungeons to refute them.
But all of sudden he changed last minute and we don't even have proper access to what was said in these 'letters' apart from narrations of those who happened to be present
Ibn Taymiyyah lived after this incident and had the chance to write about it in his own diary (which we have access to) like he did with everything else but he didn't.
In fact after this supposed retraction he carried on writing and wrote several books on aqeedah and refuting the asha'ira after the supposed repentance
5. At the time of Shaykh Al-Islam, the kalami scholars differed on his takfeer, some did while others didn't but some were also confused as they believed he did tajseem and they see tajseem of kufr yet they hesitated to do takfir of Ibn Taymiyyah.
After these 'retractions' surfaced, those scholars on the fence were able to escape from the burden of takfeering Ibn Taymiyyah by saying that he retracted afterwards and it was just a happy ending.
6. Shaykh Al-Islam also had many notable students who transmitted with amaanah everything they could from him.
The likes of Ibn Al-Qayyim, Ibn Katheer, Al-Dhahabi, ibn Abdul Hadi, Ibn Muflih, etc all wrote from ibn taymiyyah yet not one of them said that their teacher retracted his 'Aqeedah and became ash'ari.
As such, Ibn Al-Qayyim, who was with him right until he died, remained upon his views, and we do not find anything in the works of Ibn Al-Qayyim suggesting he became an asha'ri.
How is it at all rational that Ibn Al-Qayyim, who was fierce against the asha'ira never softened in his views or attacked the so called asha'ri ibn Taymiyyah?
7. Apart from his students, we see from the works of Taqi' Al-Din Subki, who wrote a poem after Shaykh Al-Islam had passed away, stating that had he been alive, he would have refuted his opinions and statements.
Now why would Subki refute Ibn Taymiyyah had he become an ash'ari?
The only conclusion we can draw, is that the so called 'repentance of Ibn Taymiyyah' is based on baseless rumours that are a coping mechanism for the Asha'ira and holds no basis in reality
So much for 'The people of rational thought'
This thread was adapted from another thread that is no longer available from Ustadh Abu Shaja'ah (May Allah ﷻ keep him steadfast)