Ibn Taymiyyah 1263 – 1328

Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah was a Sunni Muslim theologian, jurist, and reformer of Mamluk-era Syria and one of the most controversial and influential thinkers of medieval Islam. Born in Harran and trained in the Hanbali school, he spent his life in Damascus and Cairo defending what he understood as the original creed and practice of the early Muslim community against innovations from Greek philosophy, kalam rationalism, and certain forms of Sufism. His voluminous fatwas and treatises, including the Refutation of the Logicians and the Dar Ta'arud al-Aql wa-l-Naql, argue that authentic reason and authentic revelation cannot truly conflict. He spent long years in prison for his outspoken stands and shaped many later Sunni reform movements.