The Young Ibn Taymiyyah | The Time he Met the Aleppan Shaikh
Ibn Abdul-Haadi, Shaikhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah’s student, wrote:
“And it so happened that a Shaikh from Aleppo came to Damascus, saying, “I have heard that in this city there is a boy who goes by the name of Ahmad the son of Taymiyyah and that he is extremely quick in memorising. I have come perchance I may see him.”
So a tailor said to him, “This is his route to school and he has not yet come, so sit with us. Anytime now he will pass us on his way to the school.”
So the Aleppan Shaikh sat down for a short while. Then two young boys walked by, so the tailor said to the Shaikh, “The young boy carrying that large tablet—he is Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah.”
So the Shaikh called him and he came to him. Then the Shaikh took the tablet and looked at what was written therein. Then he said, “O my son! Wipe this out so that I can dictate something to you to write.”
So Ibn Taymiyyah did so. Then the Shaikh dictated 11 or 13 sayings of the Prophet ﷺ to him. Then the Shaikh said to him, “Read it.”
So after having written it [all], Ibn Taymiyyah looked over it once and then gave the tablet back to the Shaikh, who then said, “Read it to me.”
So he read it back to him [from memory] in the best way possible. Then the Shaikh said to him, “O my son! Wipe this out.”
So he wiped it out and the Shaikh dictated a number of chains of narrations that he had chosen and said, “Read them.”
Ibn Taymiyyah looked at them and he did as he had done the first time.
So the Shaikh stood up, saying, “If this young boy lives long he will have a great standing and rank—since the like of this has not been seen before.”
Al-‘Uquud Al-Durriyah, p. 7
Allaah have mercy on him and grant him Firdous, aameen.