The theological and philosophical knowledge of the divine (al-ilāhīāt) between Jews, Christians, and Muslims according to Ibn Taymīyah

Abstract

This article presents a brief introduction on the reception of Greek philosophy in Ibn Taymīyah’s Islamic epistemology and his critique of theological knowledge (al-ilāhīāt) both outside the Islamic culture (i.e., Jews, Christians and Greeks), and inside it, with the Muslim heterodox theological sects, philosophers (al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā and Ibn Rushd) and mystics (Ibn ’Arabī). It shows the objectives, methodologies, and results of the author in his epistemological critique of Greek and Muslim philosophy, carried out through his various works of religious polemics, theological apologetics, and philosophical criticism to present a proposal of Muslim philosophical rationality based on Islamic religious sources and Arabic terminology for the knowledge of the divine from philosophy, theology and mysticism within the Islamic culture. It also demonstrates the use of arguments and philosophical terminology by the author in his critique of it and the need to study his work to understand the response of Islamic theology to the "Greco-Muslim" philosophy from the viewpoint of Islamic orthodox theology, as a bridge of dialogue with other philosophical and religious traditions.

Keywords: Muslim Philosophy; Islamic Theology; Islamic Theology; Religious Polemics; Epistemology; Religious Studies.