334 Georges Tamer
1. Ibn Taymiyya’s Philosophical Critique
of Aristotelian Logic
Central to Ibn Taymiyya’s ferocious defense of Islam by means of rea-
son is his refutation of Aristotelian logic, which he clearly considered
the foundation of the metaphysical system developed by the Greeks.
For Ibn Taymiyya, this metaphysical system, which the philosophers
of Islam had adopted, was in full disagreement with the Islamic world-
view.^20 His critical assessment of Greek logic bears, thus, important
implications for both his general attitude towards philosophy and his
orientation towards certain schools of Islamic theology.^21 As such, con-
temporary Muslim authors who deal with this subject cannot explicitly
claim the identity of a philosopher for Ibn Taymiyya per se. In present-
ing how he utilized philosophical terminology to fight the logicians
with their own weapons, however, these authors connect his critique
to possible sources in the Greek philosophical tradition as well as to
later European critics of logic. By doing so, these authors apparently
grant Ibn Taymiyya space among the philosophers without attributing
to him a clear philosophical identity.
ing his ideas in contemporary Islamic discourses intending a revival of Islamic
philosophy with Ibn Taymiyya as its patron, As such, I will defer from dealing
directly with his texts. References to the sources used by contemporary authors
treated in this study will, however, be made when necessary.
20 His critique reached its highest point in Naṣīḥat ahl al-imān fī al-radd ʿalā
manṭiq al-yūnān, better known as al-Radd ʿalā al-manṭiqiyyīn, edited by ʿAbd
al-Ṣamad Sharaf al-Dīn al-Kutubī, reviewed by Muḥammad Ṭalḥa Bilāl Minyār,
with an introduction by al-Sayyid Sulaymān al-Nadwī, Beirut 1426/2005. This
new edition is identical with the first edition of the book by al-Kutubī pub-
lished in Bombay 1368/1949. The page numbers of the first edition are given
on the page margins in the new edition and will be mentioned in the present
study following page numbers according to the new edition. Another edi-
tion of the book, done by ʿAbd al-Sattār al-Nashshār and ʿImād Khafājī, was
published in Cairo 1977. This extensive volume was abridged by Jalāl al-Dīn
al-Suyūṭī (849/1445–911/1505) as Jahd al-qarīḥa fī tajrīd al-naṣīḥa, edited by
ʿAlī Sāmī al-Nashshār, Cairo 1947, and edited by Suʿād ʿAbd al-Rāziq and ʿAlī
Sāmī al-Nashshār, Cairo 1970. It also is part of vol. 9 of Majmūʿ fatāwā shaykh
al-islām Aḥmad Ibn Taymiyya, edited by ʿAbd Allāh b. Qāsim, Rabat 1961. An
English translation of the abridged book is: Ibn Taymiyya Against Greek Logi-
cians. Translated with Introduction and Notes by Wael B. Hallaq, Oxford 1993.
21 See Ibn Taymiyya, al-Radd, p. 46/4. The number preceding the backslash is the
page number in the new edition, the number following the backslash refers to
the first edition of the book. See above n. 20.
Brought to you by | Nanyang Technological University
Authenticated