Lecture 2: Why Logic Matters: Tasawwur, Tasdiq, Qiyas, and the Opening of al-Sullam

This lesson frames mantiq (منطق), classical logic, as a practical discipline for regulating human thought. It is not presented as a merely abstract or polemical tool, but as something every human being uses constantly: forming concepts, judging whether statements are true or false, and reasoning from what is known to what is unknown. The instructor notes that discussions about the legal ruling of studying logic will come later in the text, but immediately challenges the idea that logic is unnecessary. Like grammar helps protect speech from error, logic helps protect thinking from error.

The three central areas of logic were introduced: tasawwur (تصور), tasdiq (تصديق), and qiyas (قياس). Tasawwur is grasping the meaning of a concept, like understanding what “Ramadan” means. Tasdiq is affirming or denying a proposition, such as “the soul exists” or “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Qiyas, in the logical sense, is syllogistic reasoning: arranging known propositions so that a conclusion follows. This is similar to Aristotle’s syllogism, where premises are ordered so that a necessary conclusion emerges.

Several everyday examples showed how logic works naturally. Deciding when to leave in order to avoid traffic involves premises and a conclusion. Explaining Ramadan to a non-Muslim coworker involves removing conceptual ignorance through definition. Arguing for the existence of the soul or the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ involves evidence, proof, and reasoning. The Christian theology example showed how a contradiction may be exposed by syllogistic structure: if no human being can be God, and Jesus عليه السلام is a human being, then Jesus cannot be God.

The lesson then introduced the author, Abd al-Rahman al-Akhdari (عبد الرحمن الأخضري), an Algerian Maliki and Ash‘ari scholar, and his didactic poem al-Sullam al-Munawraq (السلم المنورق / المورق), a beginner’s “ladder” into logic. The text is a matn (متن), a compact teaching text meant for memorization and later unpacking through commentary. It is connected to the earlier logical tradition, especially the introductory logic text known as Isaghuji by al-Abhari, and has been widely studied in institutions such as al-Azhar and al-Qarawiyin.

The opening lines of the poem were explained in detail. Al-Akhdari begins with praise of Allah, using language that already hints at the subject of logic: conclusions, thought, intellect, ignorance, and knowledge. This is an example of bara‘at al-istihlal (براعة الاستهلال), an elegant opening that foreshadows the topic of the work. The metaphors of clouds, veils, sky, sun, and ocean show that logic is meant to remove obscurity, clarify meanings, and help the intellect travel deeply through meanings toward knowledge of Allah. The session concluded by emphasizing salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, the guiding role of the Sahaba, and the importance of sanad, the chain of transmission, in the Sunni tradition.