Al-Mabādī al-ʿAsharah li ʿIlm al-Manṭiq

Introduction
This introduction is based on notes taken from the introductory lesson of shaykh Hamza
Yusuf at the Rihla in Konya (Turkey) in 2013, on the science of logic.1 I have tried to
reference his statements as much as possible. Information from other material has also
been added, which will be referred to in the footnotes.
Manṭiq etymologically comes from nuṭq (utterance) and the verb naṭaqa which means to
utter and to speak.
The word mabda (ʿalā al-wazn: mafʿal) is the singular form of mabādī. It is a so called ism
makān, a place from where you begin or start something. It comes from the verb bada’a
which means to begin. A mabda is a starting place, a principle, a foundation or an axiom.
Amongst the scholars who versified the ten mabādī, next to the well-known verses of
imam al-Ṣabbān (d. 1791), is also the Mālikī Algerian imam and historian Aḥmad b.
Muḥammad al-Maqqarī (d. 1632).2 The poem is in rajz (poetic meter) on the pattern of
mustafʿilun, mustafʿilun, mustafʿilun.
Something to keep in mind is that manṭiq is one of al-ʿulūm al-ʿaqliyyah, the so called
rational or intellectual sciences, which are attained by the human intellect alone,
according to imam al-Ghazālī. It is not one of the religious sciences (al-ʿulūm al-
sharʿiyyah).
For ease manṭiq will be translated as (syllogistic) logic here. Manṭiq is actually a new
approach to classic Greek logic which has been further developed by Muslims. Logic is a
tool and it is universal. The Greeks didn’t invent it.
Scholars of manṭiq are called manāṭiqah / manṭiqiyyūn.

1. al-Ḥadd / the definition

Hadd means limit but it can also mean essence linguistically. Technically it means
definition.
This science can be defined in several ways:
- One definition is: “The art which directs the very act of reason, that is which enables us
to advance with order, ease and correctness in the act of reason itself.” This was said by
the French Catholic logician and philosopher Jacques Maritain3 (d. 1973),4 which goes
back to St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 CE). As a science it regulates the investigation of

1
This lesson can be viewed on Deenstream (www.deenstream.tv).
2
See the muqaddimah of his poem on ʿaqīdah called Īḍā’at al-Dujunnah fī ʿAqā’id Ahl al-Sunnah. In the sharḥ
on this poem by shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulsī his lines on the ten mabādī for ʿaqīdah are explained
extensively on pp. 23-27 of the DKI print.
3
He helped to revive the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas in modern times.
4
See his book An introduction to logic, pag. xii, published in London 1946 by Sheed & Ward.
concepts and propositions in ways that enable one to arrive at a previously unknown
proposition.
- A second definition of logic is from the Moroccan shaykh Muḥammad al-Ṭālib b. al-Ḥājj
al-Sulamī al-Fāsī (d. 1273 AH)5: “The science that enables us to conclude from something
that is known to something that was previously unknown.”6 This definition is based on
the definition of Ibn Sīnā.
- A third and last definition: a canonical tool by which the mind is protected from making
mistakes whilst contemplating.7
Logic is the science that directs our mental operations and these are three (according to
Maritain):
1.) reasoning, which is the most complex operation of the mind
2.) judgment; to judge is to affirm or deny
3.) simple apprehension, which means understanding and perception
This brings us to the subject of the science of logic.

2. al-Mawḍūʿ / the subject

The subject of this science are the three above mentioned operations of the mind:
1.) reasoning through argumentation and demonstration
2.) judgment
3.) simple apprehension, the grasping of concepts
According to the book al-Manṭiq al-Jīlānī, A Primer in Classical Logic,8 by sayyid
Muḥammad Zarqānī manṭiq consists of two subjects (pp. 11, 17 and 20):
1.) muʿarrif / qawl shāriḥ: arranged knowledge in the form of taṣawwur9, e.g. ḥayawān
nāṭiq (living, rational being)10 (see pag. 67 and further)
2.) dalīl / ḥujjah (evidence): arranged knowledge in the form of taṣdīq11 which leads to
an unknown taṣdīq (see pag. 118 and further).
These two subjects correspond with the three operations according to Maritain.

5
He is famous for his ḥāshiyah on the sharḥ of Mayyārah on the text al-Murshid al-Muʿīn.
6
In his book al-Azhār al-Ṭayyibah al-Nashr fi Mabādī al-ʿUlūm al-ʿAsharah.
7
See: Muḥammad Zarqānī, al-Manṭiq al-Jīlānī, A Primer in Classical Logic, Sadr ul Ulama Academy Publications,
Bolton UK 2018, pag. 11.
8
Published by Sadr ul Ulama Academy Publications, Bolton UK in 2018.
9
Apprehension: that knowledge which is empty of a ḥukm, e.g. “Zayd”.
10
I.e. a human being (insān).
11
Taṣdīq (affirmation) is that knowledge which contains a ḥukm. For example: “Zayd is standing.”
3. al-Thamarah / the fruit or benefit
Imam al-Ghazālī wrote an intro of forty pages on logic in his book al-Mustaṣfā min ʿIlm
al-Uṣūl in which he said:12 “Logic is an introduction to all knowledge and the one who
hasn’t mastered it can’t be relied upon for his knowledge at all.”13 This is a very powerful
statement. Logic becomes necessary because people lost the ability to reason soundly.
Its greatest benefit derives from the clarity of thought and sound reasoning skills it
engenders in one trained in its art coupled with more effective oral and written
communication. This is all related to the purpose of manṭiq: to protect the mind from
making mistakes whilst contemplating.14

4. al-Nisbah / the relationship

Every science has parts of logic in it. No science can do without it. It is the introductory
discipline for philosophy and kalām. For this latter science it is a sister science
traditionally.

5. al-Faḍl / the virtue

Faḍl can also be translated as rank and status.
The status of manṭiq is that it is an overarching science given its importance. It is
actually a necessary science because it is a means to sound knowledge, a tool to begin
your studies.
Other sciences surpass logic in rank though. In terms of means it is one of the most
important sciences but in terms of ends it is of lesser importance.

6. al-Wāḍiʿ / the founder

Imam Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī (d. 1005 CE) wrote Kitāb al-Awā’il which is a book on all the
first things that happened. According to Muslim sources, like the book of al-ʿAskarī, logic
was first codified by the ancients and this remained hidden/latent. Aristotle (Ḥakīm
Arisṭu / Arisṭāṭālīs in Arabic)15 wrote the first book on logic, he is the founder of the
science of logic and was called, the first teacher (al-muʿallim al-awwal).16 His book was
called the Organon.
Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī17 (d. 951 AH) is called the second teacher, al-muʿallim al-thānī. He
developed the science and explained it. It was said he mastered seventy languages.

12
This is one of the most important books on uṣūl al-fiqh.
13
See the PhD thesis (1981) of ʿAzmī T. al-Sayyed Ahmad, Al-Ghazali’s Views on Logic, p. 32.
14
See al-Manṭiq al-Jīlānī, A Primer in Classical Logic, pag. 11.
15
A Greek philosopher and scientist who died in 322 BC.
16
See al-Manṭiq al-Jīlānī, A Primer in Classical Logic, pag. 11.
17
Known in the West as Alpharabius.
After the works of al-Fārābī were burnt, Ibn Sīnā18 (d. 1037 CE) rewrote them and by
doing so he earned the title al-muʿallim al-thālith (the third teacher). His work al-Shifā
became the basis, which is Aristotelian logic in essence.19
Then Ibn Rushd20 (d. 1198 CE) came and he wrote Kitāb al-Ḍarūrī fi’l-Manṭiq.
Lastly imam al-Ghazālī (d. 1111 CE) followed with (some of) his books on logic:
- On the criterion of knowledge in the art of logic / Miʿyār al-ʿIlm fī Fann al-Manṭiq21
- The upright scale / al-Qistās al-Mustaqīm
- The touchstone of reasoning in logic / Miḥakk al-Naẓar fi al-Manṭiq
Not unimportant to mention is that imam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE) later on wrote a
book to refute the scholars of manṭiq: Radd ʿalā al-Manṭiqiyyīn, which was afterwards
abridged by imam al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505 CE) with the title (in short) Jahd al-Qarīḥah.

7. al-Ism / the name

In Arabic manṭiq has three meanings:
1.) the ability to speak
2.) the ability to comprehend universals
3.) the power of comprehension itself
Some of the names of this science next to manṭiq are:
- ʿilm al-mīzān
- miʿyār al-ʿulūm: the standard for measuring the sciences22
- “the grammar of the intellect” as it has been called by several scholars
A distinction can be made between two forms of logic:23
- Material logic: the context of what you are reasoning about; this is the greater/major
logic.
- Formal logic: formulas, rules of reasoning; this is the lesser/minor logic.
Logic now has been reduced to critical thinking in the West, which is just one branch of
material logic.

18
Known in the West as Avicenna.
19
See al-Manṭiq al-Jīlānī, A Primer in Classical Logic, pag. 11.
20
Known as Averroes in the West.
21
This was his first book written specifically on Islamic logic. For a study on this work read the article by Y.
Towpek and K. Salleh, The Objectives and References of Mi’yar al-‘Ilm fi Fann al-Mantiq, which can be
downloaded here: http://www.ukm.my/ijit/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IJIT-Vol-9-June-2016_8_72-86.pdf
22
Ḥāshiyah al-Ṣabbān ʿalā al-Mallawī, pag. 35.
23
See J. Maritain, An introduction to logic, pp. 9-11.
8. al-Istimdād / the sources
Istimdād comes from madad: help, assistance. Linguistically istimdād24 means to seek for
help.
This science is not derived from any other science, it is an independent science. Its
source is reason or the intellect (al-ʿaql).

9. Ḥukm al-Sharʿī / the legal judgment or ruling

There are several opinions on the permissibility of manṭiq. In his book on imam al-Bājūrī
(d. 1860) Aaron Spevack25 mentions that imam al-Bājūrī, along with a number of
important scholars before him, divided manṭiq into two classes:26
1.) the manṭiq of the muta’akhkhirūn: scholars like al-Abharī, al-Sanūsī, Ibn ʿArafah
2.) the manṭiq of the mutaqaddimūn: Aristotle, al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā
According to al-Bājūrī there was no disagreement over the manṭiq of the first class, it is a
farḍ kifāyah (communal obligation).
The only disagreement is over the second class of manṭiq according to al-Bājūrī. Imam
al-Akhḍarī presents three opinions (aqwāl) in his Sullam al-Munawraq (verses 15-18)
regarding this class of manṭiq:
1.) the opinion of imams Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ and al-Nawawī that it is ḥarām (forbidden). Imams
Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Suyūtī also held this opinion.
2.) the opinion that it is necessarily (yanbaghī)27 studied. This was the opinion of al-
Bājūrī, and also al-Ghazālī. There was some disagreement whether it was farḍ kifāyah or
mandūb (strongly recommended)28. Quṭb al-Dīn Taḥtānī (d. 1365 AH) and Quṭb al-Dīn
al-Fawqānī considered it farḍ kifāyah.
3.) the third opinion that it is permissible (jawāz) which al-Akhḍarī called mashhūr and
ṣaḥīḥ.29 This was the opinion of Taqī ul-Dīn al-Subkī amongst others.
Imam al-Yusī (he was from Morocco and died in 1691; he was called the Ghazālī of the
West) even said manṭiq is farḍ ʿaynī: an individual obligation. He refuted the opinion of
imam al-Suyuṭī on logic in his commentary on the Sanūsiyyah al-Kubrā by imam al-
Sanūsī.

24
Just like istiʿānah and istighāthah.
25
The Archetypal Sunni Scholar, published by SUNY Press, Albany 2014.
26
In his ḥāshiyah on the Sullam of al-Akhḍarī, pp. 31-33.
27
Literally this means recommended but in this context it is used in the meaning of necessity.
28
According to shaykh Hamza Yusuf this is the soundest opinion and the opinion of most fuqahā and uṣūliyyūn.
29
See The Archetypal Sunni Scholar, pp. 133-137.
10. al-Masā’il / the topics
A subject is divided into topics, matters or issues. The science of logic can be divided -as
said before- in:
- Major logic: categories, five predicables/universals (al-kullīyāt al-khams) and the five
arts (al-ṣināʿāt al-khams): the way we argue
- Minor logic: this is about simple apprehensions, concepts, terms, definitions, divisions,
judgments, propositions, conversions, syllogisms, inductions

Texts:
- al-Īsāghūjī (Isagoge30) fī’l-manṭiq31 by imam Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī (d. 1265 CE)32
- al-Sullam al-Munawraq by imam ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī (d. 1575 CE)33
- al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah by imam Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī (d. 1277 CE), the student of
imam al-Abharī
- Risālah fī ʿIlm al-Manṭiq ʿalā Ṭarīq al-Su’āl wa’l-Jawāb by shaykh Muḥammad Yāsīn al-
Fādānī (d. 1990)
- Ādāb al-Baḥth wa’l-Munāẓarah by shaykh Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Shinqīṭī (d. 1393 AH)

Books in English
- G.E. von Grunebaum (red.), Logic in Classical Islamic Culture. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1970.
- K. Gyekye, Arabic Logic: Ibn al-Tayyib’s Commentary on Porphyry’s Eisagoge. Albany:
SUNY Press, 1979.
- E. Moad, Logic and Critical Thinking: An Introduction for Muslim Students. Kazi
Publications, 2017.
- Sayyid Ali Murtada, Introduction to Logic As Developed by Muslim Logicians, Translated
by Mohammad Mehdi Baghi. London: ICAS Press, 2016.

30
This is a Greek word meaning introduction (muqaddimah / madkhal). The Isagoge was an introduction by
Porphyry to the Categories of Aristotle. The texts by al-Abharī and Porphyry share the same name but not the
same contents. Porphyry’s text only deals with the five universals while al-Abharī’s text deals with all the nine
divisions of logic.
31
An English translation of this text by shaykh Hamza Karamali can be downloaded from www.scribd.com. He
also teaches this text at www.seekershub.org. Another translation by Edwin E. Calverley can be downloaded
here: http://www.jphogendijk.nl/abhari/Calverley.pdf
32
For a biography see: https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Abhari_BEA.pdf and for some additional
information see here: http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hogen103/Abhari.html
33
The author of the famous Mālikī fiqh text Mukhtaṣar al-Akhḍarī.
Contemporary scholars
Shaykh Saʿīd Foudah (b. 1967, Jordan) is one of the foremost Islamic scholars nowadays
in the science of manṭiq. He wrote an easy explanation on the Sullam by imam al-Akhḍarī
and Taʿīd al-Manṭiq amongst other works.

Important note
Historically scholars from amongst the Shiʿa were masters in the science of manṭiq and
this science still plays a big role in the scholarly curriculum of the ḥawzah (the Shiʿa
variant of the madrassah), with regards to subjects like ʿaqīdah, falsafah and fiqh.