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Why did Ibn Taymiyyah invalidate logic? What are the books that discuss the Qur’an’s refutations of the arguments of the Arab polytheists, and the Qur’anic methodology in argumentation? And how should a Muslim scholar act if he is unable to respond to a rational or transmitted argument? And what should he do in this situation?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Ibn Taymiyyah invalidated logic due to the corruption he perceived in it. He stated that the assertion of its obligatory nature (as a communal obligation) is a corrupt statement, and that reality demonstrates that whoever commits themselves to studying it becomes corrupt in their perception and argumentation. He clarified that Muslim scholars condemned logic and its practitioners, and that the Imams of the Shafi'i and Hanafi schools prohibited it. As for refutations of the arguments of polytheists, these can be found in books of aqidah (creed) and tawhid (monotheism). Among the books on the Quranic method of argumentation is: "Manahij al-Jadal fi al-Qur'an al-Karim" (Methods of Argumentation in the Noble Quran) by Zahir Awwad al-Almai. If a scholar is unable to respond immediately, they should say, "I do not know, and I will research," as this does not diminish their standing.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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