The Curse of Philosophy 349
topics within a religious system utilizing, therewith, the same argu-
ments and Koranic statements used by Ibn Rushd.^99
Although Ibn Taymiyya explicitly rejected taʾwīl (the interpretation
of the Koran), he actually developed his position through practicing
taʾwīl, as he steadily claimed to be “correcting the philosophers’ and
theologians’ misunderstanding” of the sacred and philosophical texts
to which they referred. In doing so, he considered reason to be the
“activity of interpreting the text [of the Koran]” (al-nashāṭ al-taʾwīlī
lil-naṣṣ).^100 This unique understanding of rationality, intrinsically
connected to the Scripture, enabled him, furthermore, to “justify his
philosophy as the harmony (insijām) and congruence (muṭābaqa)
between clear reason and true text.” Ibn Taymiyya’s “clear reason”
(ṣarīḥ al-maʿqūl) is nothing else but philosophy, as he knew it through
Ibn Rushd and Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī (d. after 560/1164); he,
however, avoids using this term because of its negative connotations
in Islam.^101 Ibn Taymiyya’s philosophy can, thus, be considered as a
project of “rational interpretation (taʾwīl ʿaqlī) which goes beyond
the outward of the text (ẓāhir al-naṣṣ) to its rational interior (bāṭinihi
al-ʿaqlī).” Ibn Taymiyya’s project closely resembles that of Ibn Rushd,
who, however, did not conceal it as he himself did.^102 Ibn Taymiyya’s
philosophy is a reformatory enterprise; its purpose is to return reason
and religious tradition to the original concord that existed before they
were misconceived in philosophy and theology as “two antipodes.”^103
Ibn Taymiyya formulates
a position which is totally in agreement with the rational norms of his
time regarding the questions of God’s unity and His creation [of the
world], [His] being somewhere (al-jiha), the teaching of causality and the
concept of eternity. In order to justify his ‘implied’ philosophical system
(manẓūmatahu al-falsafiyya ‘al-ḍimniyya’) [...] he resorted to the text
[of the Koran].^104The “philosopher” Ibn Taymiyya develops a two-track strategy. On
one hand, regarding almost all matters of society, history, politics and
eschatology, he rejects any philosophical interpretation of the Koran
99 Ibid., p. 16.
100 Ibid., pp. 16–17, n. 1.
101 Ibid., p. 218, n. 174.
102 Ibid., p. 17 and footnote.
103 Ibid., p. 16.
104 Ibid., pp. 16–17.
Brought to you by | Nanyang Technological University
Authenticated