The importance of iǧtihād, as opposed to taqlīd, has often been emphasized in the legal methodology of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). In the theological field, on the other hand, these notions seem to pl The importance of iǧtihād, as opposed to taqlīd, has often been emphasized in the legal methodology of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). In the theological field, on the other hand, these notions seem to play a different role: the rejection of taqlīd, of which philosophers and rationalist theologians are accused, is not accompanied by any praise of iǧtihād, which is the object of real mistrust. The article seeks to understand the role played by this couple of notions in the metaphysical field, through the study of a major theological work, the Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql. Metaphysics is distinguished from law only by its extreme difficulty, which pushes scholars to rely blindly (by taqlīd) on the ideas of their predecessors, neglecting the only possible path: not an improbable iǧtihād, but the taqlīd with regard to God and his revelation.

C’est en islamologue que le frère dominicain Adrien Candiard entreprend ici un déchiffrage inédit de l’oeuvre d’Ibn Taymiyya, de son traité majeur, Le rejet de la contradiction entre la raison et la t C’est en islamologue que le frère dominicain Adrien Candiard entreprend ici un déchiffrage inédit de l’oeuvre d’Ibn Taymiyya, de son traité majeur, Le rejet de la contradiction entre la raison et la tradition, de sa conception de la vérité. Il s’attache également à analyser et élucider les questions disputées à son sujet. Qu’en est-il vraiment du rejet de la théologie rationnelle, de la philosophie spéculative, de la spiritualité soufie qu’on lui attribue ? Des polémiques contre Al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Averroès qu’on lui prête ? Des maux de l’islam actuel, dont on dit qu’il est la cause ? Et surtout, quelle est sa vision de Dieu ?
Par-delà les appropriations postérieures, cet ouvrage à la fois érudit, passionnant et novateur fait revivre la pensée de cet auteur majeur et controversé, afin que les débats d’hier éclairent le monde d’aujourd’hui.

In Ibn Taymiyya on reason and revelation, Carl Sharif El-Tobgui offers the first comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya’s ten-volume magnum opus, Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql. In his colossal riposte t In Ibn Taymiyya on reason and revelation, Carl Sharif El-Tobgui offers the first comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya’s ten-volume magnum opus, Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql. In his colossal riposte to the Muslim philosophers and rationalist theologians, the towering Ḥanbalī polymath rejects the call to prioritize reason over revelation in cases of alleged conflict, interrogating instead the very conception of rationality that classical Muslims had inherited from the Greeks. In its place, he endeavors to articulate a reconstituted “pure reason” that is both truly universal and in full harmony with authentic revelation. Based on a line-by-line reading of the entire Darʾ taʿāruḍ, El-Tobgui’s study carefully elucidates the “philosophy of Ibn Taymiyya” as it emerges from the multifaceted ontological, epistemological, and linguistic reforms that Ibn Taymiyya carries out in this pivotal work.