"The shaykh of our shaykhs, al-Haafidh Abu al-Yu'maree (ibn Sayyid an-Naas) said in his biography of ibn Taymiyyah: 'al-Mizzi encouraged me to speak my opinion on Shaykh al-Islaam Taqi ad-Deen. I found him to be fortunate in the sciences that he had. He used to fully understand and implement the Sunan and Aathaar (narrations), memorising them. Should he speak about tafseer then he would carry its flag, and should he pass a fatwa in fiqh then he knew its (or his) limits, and should he speak about a hadeeth then he was the companion of its knowledge and owner of its narrations. Should he give a lecture on Religions and Sects then none was seen who was more comprehensive or meticulous than he. He surpassed in every science over the sons of his like. And you would not see one like him, and his own eye did not see one like himself. He used to speak on tafseer and a large number of people would attend his gatherings, and an agreeable number would return (having drank) from his sweet, rich ocean. Until the sickness of envy crept (into the hearts) of the people of his city. And the people of Nadhr gathered together and picked out anything that could be disapproved of in his beliefs, and they memorised certain statements with respect to this. And they undermined him due to this. They laid traps for him by which they could declare him to be an innovator. They thought that he had left their way, and split off from their sect. So they argued with him, and he with them, and some of them cut relations with him, and he with them. Then he argued with another group who were attributed to the Fuqaraa who thought that they were upon the minute details of the inner reality and upon its truth. And he exposed these Orders. This reached the first group and they sought help from those who cut relations with him and harboured malice towards him. They took the matter to the rulers, each of them having decided that he was a disbeliever and they prepared a meeting, inspiring the ignorant people to spread the word amongst the great scholars. They took steps to transfer the matter to the king of Egypt. And he was arrested and put in prison. Gatherings were convened to discuss the spilling of his blood. They called up for this purpose the people from the small mosques and students, those people that would argue to make others happy, and those that would argue to show their cleverness, and those that announced takfeer and called for disassociation. Your Lord knows what is in their hearts and what they proclaim. And the one who announced his kufr was no better than the one who argued to make others happy. The sting of their plots crept up on him, and Allaah made futile every plot, and rescued him at the hands of those that He chose. Then he continuously moved from one trial to another, in all his life he did not move from trouble except into trouble. And then there followed what followed in the matter of his arrest. He stayed in prison until he died, and to Allaah all matters return. And on the day of his funeral the streets were crowded, and the Muslims came from every roadway...'"

This account recorded by ibn Hajar lays to waste what Kabbani tells his readers about ibn Taymiyya’s imprisonment (p.98):

"In consequence of such strange positions, Ibn Taymiyya was imprisoned by agreement of the Muslim scholars of Egypt and Syria who wished to prevent the dissemination of his ideas. His imprisonment, it should be stressed, came as a result of the consensus of the scholars of his time and not, as it is falsely claimed by his admirers, a massive conspiracy against him. Nor was he put in jail by a tyrannical ruler, nor due to the jealousy of his contemporaries, as is postulated today by some of those who claim to follow his teachings."

As-Suyootee described him as: "Shaykh al-Islaam, the Haafidh, the Faqeeh, the Mujtahid, the distinguished Mufassir, the rarity of his time, scholar of the ascetics."

(Al-Ashbaah wal-Nadha’ir 3/683)

According to ‘Alaa ad-Din al-Bukhari, as cited by Kabbani (p.218), it is disbelief to refer to ibn Taymiyyah as Shaykh al-Islaam! What then of this reference from as-Suyootee? Not to mention the numerous other scholars who applied this title to him, as ibn Naasir ad-Deen records in ar-Radd al-Waafir. Shaykh Bahjatul Baitaar writes: "Ibn al-Hureeree said: ‘If ibn Taymiyyah is not Shaykh al-Islaam then who is?’" (Hayaat Shaykh al-Islaam ibn Taymiyyah, p.26)

As for the noble Imaam, ibn al-Qayyim, many of the scholars have spoken in praise of him: