332 Georges Tamer
rocal process which they, perhaps, had not consciously perceived, the
enemies of falsafa had become philosophers themselves.
In confirmation of this, contemporary Muslim authors have not
hesitated to appoint Ibn Taymiyya – with not a little irony – to the
philosophical field. Identifying him, especially in regards to his com-
prehensive view, as a true philosopher, they describe him as equal to
or even superseding the most famous medieval Muslim philosophers.
Indeed, for these authors, Ibn Taymiyya is considered an “unequal
genius” who entered “the bewitched house of philosophy” without
being harmed; he is “a great philosopher” whose refutation of Aris-
totle’s logic is the foundation of John Stuart Mill’s logic and David
Hume’s philosophy.^13 A more recent author even attributes to Ibn
Taymiyya “unique philosophical views” capable of opening new
horizons for Arabic-Islamic studies.^14 In a programmatic statement,
the Egyptian Islamist Muḥammad ʿAmāra grants Ibn Taymiyya the
title of “the philosopher and sage of Salafism” (faylasūf al-salafiyya
wa-ḥakīmuhā), whose rationalism is a paradigm to be adopted in mod-
ern Islamic thought.^15
Indeed, Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya – who has often been criti-
cized for his radical attitude against philosophy and his harsh critique
of dialectical theology and Sufism; whose ideas play a fundamental role
in Saudi Wahhabism;^16 who is accused of being the “father of Islamic
fundamentalism”;^17 and whose words have been even used by Muslims
to justify terroristic activities;^18 – receives, despite all of this, a flat-
13 Nadvi, Syed Sulaiman: Muslims and Greek Schools of Philosophy, in: Islamic
Culture 1 (1927), pp. 85–91, here p. 89.
14 ʿAbd al-Rāziq, Muṣṭafā: Khamsa min aʿlām al-fikr al-islāmī, Cairo n. d., p. 123.
15 ʿAmāra, Muḥammad: Faylasūf al-salafiyya, in: Shabakat al-difāʿ ʿan al-sunna
(http://www.dd-sunnah.net/forum/showthread.php?t=67742, accessed May 3,
2009).
16 Laoust, Henri: Essai sur les doctrines sociales et politiques de Taḳī-d-dīn Aḥmad
b. Taimīya, Cairo 1939, pp. 506–540. See Steinberg, Guido: Religion und Staat
in Saudi-Arabien. Die wahhabitischen Gelehrten 1902–1953, Würzburg 2002,
pp. 87–103, 337–341 et passim.
17 This cliché is discussed in Krawietz, Birgit: Ibn Taymiyya, Vater des islamischen
Fundamentalismus? Zur westlichen Rezeption eines mittelalterlichen Schariats-
gelehrten, in: Manuel Atienza, Enrico Pattaro, Martin Schulte, Boris Topornin
and Dieter Wyduckel (eds.): Theorie des Rechts und der Gesellschaft. Festschrift
für Werner Krawietz, Berlin 2003, pp. 39–62.
18 See Jansen, Johannes J. G.: The Creed of Sadat’s Assassins. The Contents of
“The Forgotten Duty” Analyzed, in: Die Welt des Islams 25 (1985), pp. 1–30;
idem: The Neglected Duty. The Creed of Sadat’s Assassins and Islamic Resur-
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