Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

PART-I He was a great logician who approached logic on his own terms. The Muslim world is polarized over reception of Ibn Taymiyyah. For some a villian while for others the hero and standard reference point for use for ideological ends. He has been mostly received in sectarian framework and such rejectionist terms as anti-Sufi, anti- philosopher, and anti- mutakalimoon . Many find him a huge problem or embarrassment and seek to do away with him. Contrary to popular dismissive and valorizing readings, it needs to be pointed out that he often held quite nuanced positions and defended himself with rigorous arguments and often meticulous analyses. He rejects, not much unlike Nagarjuna, Ghazzali, Kant and some modern philosophers, overambitious attempts to build a metaphysics/theological system based on inflated claims for reason. He seconds Ghazzali in his critique of the claims of the philosophers in the field of metaphysics while endorsing the validity of the rational sciences in the...