1340–1345: Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyya on the Question of Permanent Truce

Abstract

This article analyses Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyya’s discussion of permanent truce (al-hudna al-muṭlaqa) in his “Legal Judgements about the People of Protected Status” (Aḥkām ahl al-ḏimma). Focusing on Ibn al-Qayyim’s method and arguments, the article examines the content of a relevant section from the work, situating it within the broader discussion of “truce” in the Sunnī legal tradition. Ibn al-Qayyim manages to ground permanent truce in the Prophetic tradition. Both his argument and its justification do not conform to anything we find in Sunnī law, including Ibn al-Qayyim’s own Ḥanbalī school. The article thus underscores the creativity and dynamism of Islamic jurists who often think outside the box, even in instances where they agree with their predecessors, let alone cases where they disagree. The article also points out a major inaccuracy in modern research about truce in Islamic law, i.e. the claim that the latter does not allow for a truce to exceed ten years.