What is the meaning of Ibn Taymiyyah’s statement regarding the philosophers: “They were given intelligence but not piety, and they were given understanding but not knowledge”?
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The questioner : What is the meaning of Ibn Taymiyyah’s statement regarding the philosophers: “They were given intelligence but not piety, and they were given understanding but not knowledge”?
The Shaykh : Intelligence is well known, or is it not well known? Well, whoever does not know intelligence is not intelligent. Piety is well known, or is it not? Piety is the purification of the soul, meaning they were not given the purification of their souls, which is not purification. And they were given understanding but not knowledge, because they do not possess knowledge. Therefore, you hardly find in the books of the people of theology a verse from the Book of Allah by which they argue, nor a hadith from the Messenger of Allah. The time is up.
The Shaykh : Intelligence is well known, or is it not well known? Well, whoever does not know intelligence is not intelligent. Piety is well known, or is it not? Piety is the purification of the soul, meaning they were not given the purification of their souls, which is not purification. And they were given understanding but not knowledge, because they do not possess knowledge. Therefore, you hardly find in the books of the people of theology a verse from the Book of Allah by which they argue, nor a hadith from the Messenger of Allah. The time is up.