Ibn Taymiyya

Ibn Taymiyya was a Hanbali theologian and jurist, born in Harran and active mainly in Damascus, who lived through the Mongol invasions and spent long periods in prison for his views. He called Muslims back to the Qur'an, the Prophet's practice and the early generations, and he opposed both speculative theology and philosophy where, in his view, they distorted revelation. In Against the Greek Logicians he attacked Aristotelian logic, arguing that definitions cannot capture essences and that the syllogism adds nothing that sound minds cannot reach without it. His influence on modern Islamic reform movements has been very large.

Key ideas

• Definitions cannot give knowledge of essences; things are known through their distinctive properties and through experience.
• The syllogism adds nothing essential, since whatever it proves can be known by sound reason without its formal apparatus.
• Universals exist only in minds; everything that exists outside the mind is particular.
• Sound reason and authentic revelation never truly conflict, so reason cannot be set above scripture.
• God's attributes should be affirmed as the Qur'an states them, without denying them or likening God to creatures.

Major works

• Against the Greek Logicians (early 14th century)
• Averting Conflict between Reason and Revelation (Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql) (early 14th century)
• The Way of the Prophetic Sunna (Minhāj al-sunna) (c. 1316)
• Governance according to God's Law (al-Siyāsa al-sharʿiyya) (after 1310)

In the Book corner

• Against the Greek Logicians early 14th century (exact date uncertain) · Advanced
  A sustained critique of Aristotelian logic by the Damascene jurist and theologian Ibn Taymiyya, known in English mainly through Wael Hallaq's translation…

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