Although there are myriads of valid narrations on the merits and status of Imam Ali which have been confirmed by great Sunni scholars; Ibn Taymiyyah left no stone unturned to ignore these narrations and distort historical facts.

His animosity toward Imam Ali was to the extent that he wrote books in praise of Mu’awiyah and his son Yazid. He writes that although Yazid had committed sins he is forgiven due to doing good deeds. Moreover, his extoling of Mu’awiyah to the sky is very astonishing. Hassan Basri, a contemporary of Mu’awiyah says, “Mu’awiyah had 4 traits each of which sufficed for his perishing: First, he dominated the Islamic Ummah without council and via resorting to sword while there were virtuous companions among people; secondly, he called Ibn Ziyad as his brother although he was an illegitimate brat and his father was unknown; thirdly, he devised hereditary succession in caliphate and ceded the rule to his son Yazid, the very son who wore silken clothes and was engaged in music and singing; and fourthly, he killed Hujr ibn Adi and his companions.
In his book, Ra’s al-Hussein, Ibn Taymiyyah defends Yazid, the very tyrant whom every Muslim and free-spirited person testifies to his excessive debauchery and corruption. Yazid’s life was so replete with ignominious acts that nobody can defend him and attribute a single righteous act to him. During his few years of rule, he killed the Prophet’s grandson and third successor, Imam Hussein (AS); burnt and destroyed the Ka’aba; and destroyed Medina, massacred the men and children and raped the women of the city. Ibn Taymiyyah says, “Yazid’s sin was not greater than that of the Israelites. The Israelites used to kill their messengers and killing Hussein was not greater than killing the messengers.”
Ibn Taymiyyah has tried to exonerate Yazid of all his abominable acts. In a vain bid to cover up Yazid’s role in creating the tragedy of Karbala and martyring Imam Hussein (AS), Ibn Taymiyyah says that the Imam had rebelled against Yazid and hence his blood was not sacred. How is he claiming to stick to hadith and narrations while he denies the worldly famous virtues of Imam Ali (AS) which were stressed in many occasions by the Prophet?
Why does he make every effort to downgrade the infallible leaders like Imam Ali and Imam Hussein (Peace upon them) via innovating hadith in praise of the mean personalities like Mu’awiyah and Yazid? The best criterion for knowing the personality of Ibn Taymiyyah is the hadith of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) which reads, “O Ali! No one likes you except the faithful and no one hates you except the hypocrite.”
After a life of distorting Islamic teachings and devising narrations against true Islamic hadith, Ibn Taymiyyah died in 728 in Damascus. His ideas form the basis of the Salafi current. Contrary to what the Salafis claim they are not the followers of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and their beliefs differ from his beliefs. Ibn Taymiyyah claimed to follow Ahmad ibn Hanbal but through an instrumental usage of hadith he would consider as fake any hadith that was opposite his ideas.
The spirit of Ibn Taymiyyah’s thoughts is the Umayyad narrative of Islam. His apologetic defences for the family of Abu Sufyan and their myriads of corruption on the one hand, and his struggle against the progeny of the Prophet, especially Imam Ali (AS), on the other hand clearly shows his hypocrisy. This comes as Ahmad not only liked the Prophet’s progeny but he spread Tarbi’ or the belief in Imam Ali as the fourth caliph.
Ibn Taymiyyah struggled with all Islamic sects and sowed the seeds of discord and sedition among Muslims while they were in dire need of unity and convergence against common enemies. Conversely, Ahmad ibn Hanbal organized various trends which were inclined toward hadith and built up common bases for them. In sum, he founded a deviated version of beliefs which culminated in the invitation of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the 12th century AH. The devised school of Ibn Taymiyyah plunged further in extremism and the Takfiri thought got a practical form leading to shedding the blood of countless Muslims. If Ibn Taymiyyah was not that successful in creation of discord and rift among Muslims; ibn Abd al-Wahhab, relying on his seditionist ideas and depending on the sword of the al Saud and British supports, managed to grow the seeds of discord and wreak plethora of disasters on the Islamic world. The Salafi current which was set up in the 7th century AH by Ibn Taymiyyah perished very soon. But the same content emerged in a new form by Wahhabis in the 12th century. The Wahhabism has obtained its name from the founder of the cult Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Unlike his predecessors, this person managed to establish a government by the British political support and spread his rule over Najd and Hejaz with reliance on sword. Next time you’ll hear more on the personality and practice of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the way he came to power.      
 RM/ME