He did not understand doubt as a vicious circle, a contradictory connection established between concepts, but saw it as a method to go into details to shed light on the subject.
(1162-1231) Arab thinker. He applied the antiquity skepticism to Islamic philosophy through a new interpretation and opened a new era of criticism in Islamic thought. He was born in Baghdad and died there. There is no extensive information about his family. His real name is Muvaffaküddin Ebu Muhammed bin Yusuf. In Islamic countries, he is more commonly referred to as Ibn al-Labbad. He first studied in Baghdad. He studied hadith, fiqh, and kalam in accordance with the tradition of his age. He began his philosophical studies by examining the known works of ancient scholars. He studied Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Sina, Farabi, Ghazali, Sühreverdi, and Ibn Maimun. He went on long trips in Syria, Egypt, Damascus, and Erzincan regions. During his trip to Egypt, he received closeness from the statesmen, especially the sultan, and stayed in their mansions and attended scientific meetings.
‘Abd al-Latif was a philosopher and polymath who lived between the Second Crusade (1147–1149 AD) and the end of the Fifth Crusade (1217–1231 AD). He was born in Baghdad in 1162 and died there on 9 November 1231 after a pilgrimage of more than forty years during which he travelled throughout Iraq, Syria and Egypt looking for a good teacher in philosophy.
All of Abdullatif Baghdadi's works are based on the possibilities and methods provided by the information he gained from observations. Although he is not a purely experimental and observant thinker, the working method he adopts does not conform to the scientific tradition maintained in Islamic countries. He took a skeptical attitude towards the dominance of logical principles in the solution of problems. He did not understand doubt as a vicious circle, a contradictory connection established between concepts, but saw it as a method to go into details to shed light on the subject.
According to Abdullatif Baghdadi, logic cannot bring a healthy method of science that leads to precise knowledge and is free from all doubts. All studies of logic are based on the connection established between previously given and known abstract concepts. For this reason, the method of thinking, which consists of interpretations of Aristotelian logic and which has great validity among Islamic thinkers, is not sufficient. As a matter of fact, comparison, which is considered to be the most reliable and healthy part of logic, cannot provide new information and is not sufficient to bring it to reality. For this reason, the Aristotelian thinking method adopted by Islamic thinkers such as Avicenna, Ghazali, Sühreverdi, and İbn Meymun could not be healthy and productive in terms of precise knowledge.
God cannot be grasped by the evidence on which Aristotelian Islamic sages rely. All their proofs depend on projections carried out according to the principles of logic. These designs also consist of abstract concepts; Abstract concepts cannot lead people to reality. The method to bring it to reality must be precise.
The universe is a real entity, its extinction cannot be determined on the basis of logical principles. Living things, plants, and minerals are the types of beings that make up the universe. Their formation is not according to the laws of logic, but according to the laws of nature. It is not possible to explain the existence of the universe with a thinking method based on the rules of logic.
Abdullatif Baghdadi, who put forward his thoughts with his critical writings rather than the usual type, has no view that can be considered new in the field of philosophy. The event that makes it important in Islamic countries is the application of the type of criticism to Islamic philosophy. The method he uses in criticism is also analytical. His main method is to divide the work he deals with into sections according to its subjects and to criticize the problems contained in these sections after explanations that go into detail.
Abdullatif Baghdadi had a long-lasting influence on those who came after him with the skeptical criticism method he applied in the field of philosophy. This influence aroused interest in Antiquity skeptics of Islamic thought, leading to the recognition of their available writings and sources containing their views.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-baghdadi/