How to reconcile Ibn Rajab’s warning against entering the field of kalam with those who entered it to refute its proponents?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: Ibn Rajab quoted in his book *Bayan Fadl 'Ilm al-Salaf* the condemnation of studying the field of kalam by Imam Ahmad and others of the imams of the Salaf. Ibn Rajab also said, “As for entering into the discourse of the mutakallimun (theologians) or the philosophers, it is pure evil. Yes. And few are those who enter into any of it without being stained by some of its harms.” How do you reconcile this statement with those who entered the field of kalam to refute the people of innovation?
The Shaykh:
The one who is meant by entering the field of kalam is the one who believes in it; he will not be safe in his creed. As for the one who learns it in order to refute its proponents, there is no harm in that. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh:
He believes in its invalidity, but he learns it in order to refute its proponents. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was well-versed in the science of logic and the science of kalam, not out of love for it, but in order to know their arguments and doubts in order to refute them. And you do not know evil unless you learn it and know it; you do not avoid it while you are ignorant of it. So learning these matters in order to refute them is permissible, but learning them in order to believe in them is forbidden and not permissible. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: Ibn Rajab quoted in his book *Bayan Fadl 'Ilm al-Salaf* the condemnation of studying the field of kalam by Imam Ahmad and others of the imams of the Salaf. Ibn Rajab also said, “As for entering into the discourse of the mutakallimun (theologians) or the philosophers, it is pure evil. Yes. And few are those who enter into any of it without being stained by some of its harms.” How do you reconcile this statement with those who entered the field of kalam to refute the people of innovation?
The Shaykh:
The one who is meant by entering the field of kalam is the one who believes in it; he will not be safe in his creed. As for the one who learns it in order to refute its proponents, there is no harm in that. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh:
He believes in its invalidity, but he learns it in order to refute its proponents. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was well-versed in the science of logic and the science of kalam, not out of love for it, but in order to know their arguments and doubts in order to refute them. And you do not know evil unless you learn it and know it; you do not avoid it while you are ignorant of it. So learning these matters in order to refute them is permissible, but learning them in order to believe in them is forbidden and not permissible. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [253 -1024]كيف الجمع بين تحذير ابن رجب من الدخول في علم الكلام وبين من دخل في علم الكلام للرد عليهم؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.