I have discussed this at length, explaining their statements on the matter and their contradictions, and showing that their exclusions also exclude the means of attaining the noblest branches of theoretical and practical knowledge. They are left with nothing but things conceived in the mind that have no reality outside it. Were there room here to quote their own words on this subject and the objections I have raised against them, I would do so. I have already set all this out in its appropriate places in the universal and theological sciences, for these are the sciences ultimately sought.
The discussion of “logic” arose only because they claimed that it is a rule-governed instrument whose observance protects the mind from error in thought. We therefore needed to examine this instrument: is it as they claim, or is it not?
Some of their leading authorities, when shown flaws in their statements that expose their misguidance, and unable to rebut this, say: “These are sciences that minds have refined for more than a thousand years and that learned men have accepted.”
There are several answers to this.
First: this is not the case. Men of reason superior to these have always criticized them and exposed their errors and misguidance. As for the ancients, their numerous disagreements are well known. The books recording their histories and doctrines contain accounts of these that this is not the place to recount. As for the Islamic era, Muslim speculative thinkers have written extensively to expose the unsound elements in their logical and theological principles—indeed, even their physical and mathematical principles. Every school of Muslim speculative thinkers has composed works on this, even the Rāfidah.