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An Examination on The Problem of the Legitimacy of Islamic Philosophy in the Maktab-e Tafkīk School
Abstract
In this study, the criticisms of the Maktab-e Tafkīk School against philo-sophy and philosophers within the framework of the legitimacy of Islamic philosophy will be examined. Maktab-e Tafkīk is a school that emerged in eastern Iran and has a history of nearly a hundred years. This school cla-ims to reach "pure" religion by separating philosophy and Sufism from the Quranic sciences. However, philosophy is more at the center of their criti-cism. Important representatives of the school are Mirza Mehdi Isfahani, Mujtaba Qazvini, Seyyid Jafar Seydan and Muhammad Riza Hakīmī. The followers of Tafkīk base their criticism of philosophy on two basic claims. The first is the assertion that philosophy, having entered the Islamic world from external sources, bears no connection to the Islamic religion. The second is the claim that truth cannot be attained through philosophi-cal reasoning. In support of these arguments, they have frequently pointed to the disagreements among philosophers, seeking through this method to undermine both philosophy and the philosophers themselves. In this study, the views of prominent figures of the Tafkīk on philosophy and phi-losophers will be determined mostly through their own works, and then the consistency of these criticisms will be questioned as objectively as possible. For this purpose, some objections to the Tafkīk will be pointed out and the study will end with a conclusion.
Keywords
Ethical Statement
This article is derived from the doctoral dissertation titled “Opposition to Philosophy in the Shi'i Tradition: The Case of the Maktab-e Tafkīk”, prepared under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ömer Faruk ERDEM at Necmettin Erbakan University, Institute of Social Sciences.
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Islamic Philosophy
Journal Section
Research Article
Publication Date
December 15, 2025
Submission Date
September 1, 2025
Acceptance Date
December 10, 2025
Published in Issue
Year 2025 Volume: 12 Number: 24
