Problems Encountered in Teaching Logic in Faculties of Theology

2016

In a fluid and ever changing global environment, the need to rationally engage and logically address the controversies that challenge the sanctity of Islam is an ubiquitous feature of contemporary times. As the challenges confronting Islamic thinkers are diverse and manifold, there is an urgent need for an advocacy approach that is premised on the rational application of Logic in Islamic Discourse. Nevertheless, the current approach of totally relying on Logic as a tool to elucidate the problems and controversies besetting the Ummah is replete with numerous shortcomings as evidenced by the advent of deviationist ideologies inimical to Islam such as pluralism, liberalism, and feminism. This paper purports to examine the nature of Logic within Islamic Discourse and how it is applied to not only portray Islam but to also delineate and clarify its adequacy in addressing contemporary issues and controversies bedeviling the Ummah. In seeking answers to these questions, the paper first sought to explicate upon the nature of Logic within the realm of knowledge. Next, it analyzed the use of logic in contemporary Islamic discourse. A qualitative approach which basically encompasses library research was utilized to obtain secondary data regarding the use of logic in contemporary Islamic discourse. Subsequently, the collated data was subjected to textual analysis. The findings reveal that there are at least two approaches that underpin the use of logic in Islamic discourse, namely, the reason (aql) based and the revelation (wahyu) based approaches with both approaches having their respective outcomes. Based on the analyzed data, the study recommends that the application of logic in contemporary Islamic Discourse should be premised upon on a hybrid approach named Contemporary Islamic Logic Approach (CILA) that draws its synergy from the revelation based approach but manifests itself via aql based arguments whilst simultaneously complying with four basic rules i.e., possessing a clear Islamic epistemology and tasawur, utilizing Islamic reasoning approaches, strengthening the Islamic framework and finally, emphasizing the means aspect of Western Logic rather than its end.

Isagoge: A Classical Primer on Logic, 2022

Logic: A brief overview Logic is the discipline of valid reasoning, inference and demonstration. While many cultures have employed systems of reasoning, and logical methods are evident in all human thought, logic descending from the Greek tradition, particularly Aristotelian logic, impacted more on and was further developed by Islamic logicians from the 8th till 14th centuries. "Mantiq " is the Arabic equivalent of "logic". It points to the practice of defending the tenets of Islam through rational argument.

Logic and Religion: The Essential Connection, 2020

I argue that a system of logic is correct insofar as it enables us to keep track of intuitive validity. Intuitive validity is a relationship that holds between commitments. There are different forms of intuitive validity, and thus different logical systems, because there are different forms of commitment. It can no longer be assumed that classical logic is the only form of logic, or that validity is always a matter of transmitting truth from premises to conclusion. Religious identity is based upon a shared set of commitments, and religious commitments fall within the subject matter of logic. A religion does not have a stable and fixed essence, because there is always the potential for a dispute about the exact content of the commitments that members of the religion supposedly share. Logic can provide clarity in such disputes, but logicians must be careful to find the form of logic that fits the commitments being studied.

Al-Abhath Beirut, 2025

Renowned for his profound scholarship, the philosophical theologian and mystic Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) has profoundly influenced Islamic thought and education for centuries. This article presents a novel approach to studying his body of works. It analyzes six of al-Ghazālī's key works on logic in chronological order, offering a fresh perspective on his views on reasoning. Additionally, the study explicitly focuses on al-Ghazālī's concept of "logic as a tool of learning," leading into an exploration of the relevance of his insights for contemporary humanistic education.

2010

This book investigates the central role of reason in Islamic intellectual life. Despite widespread characterization of Islam as a system of belief based only on revelation, John Walbridge argues that rational methods, not fundamentalism, have characterized Islamic law, philosophy, theology, and education since the medieval period. His research demonstrates that this medieval Islamic rational tradition was opposed by both modernists and fundamentalists, resulting in a general collapse of traditional Islamic intellectual life and its replacement by more modern but far shallower forms of thought. The resources of this Islamic scholarly current, however, remain an integral part of the Islamic intellectual tradition and will prove vital to its revival. The future of Islam, Walbridge argues, will be marked by a return to rationalism.

2010

God and Logic in Islam: The Caliphate of Reason John Walbridge This book investigates the central role of reason in Islamic intellectual life. Despite widespread characterization of Islam as a system of belief based only on revelation, John Walbridge argues that rational methods, not fundamentalism, have characterized Islamic law, philosophy, and education since the medieval period. His research demonstrates that this medieval Islamic rational tradition was opposed by both modernists and fundamentalists, resulting in a general collapse of traditional Islamic intellectual life and its replacement by more modern but far shallower forms of thought. However, the resources of this Islamic scholarly tradition remain an integral part of the Islamic intellectual tradition and will prove vital to its revival. The future of Islam, Walbridge argues, will be marked by a return to rationalism.

The present study starts from the question if there can be any logic of religion. The answer is affirmative for logic in a wide sense. The attempts from the logic of beliefs account for this. However, the study focuses on the specific of the logic of religious terms, a less approached domain by logicians and philosophers. In this line issues like those of the logic of analogy, of the distinctions between the specific, general and total content of terms, between logical distributive and collective conjunctions, etc are brought into discussion. In the end, dogmatic concepts are analyzed, as the core of religious concepts. Key

I wish to thank the convenors of these two conferences as well as the participants for their comments and suggestions.