The opening: what logic is for

Introduction · al-muqaddima · pp. 20–21

الْمُقَدِّمَةُ

Concept · nog niet nagekeken

Arabic text after the print of Jakarta 1434/2013 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft

About this text

al-Sullam al-munawraq السُّلَّمُ الْمُنَوْرَقُ

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī (d. 983/1575)

Text: Arabic, transcribed by The Mantiqi from this print: Mutūn al-manṭiq wa-l-ḥikma: Īsāghūjī wa-l-Sullam al-munawraq, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, Jakarta 1434/2013, pp. 20–32 View the scan
Lessons follow: The lessons are The Mantiqi's own explanations, chapter by chapter of the text itself.
Translation: The Mantiqi's own; a draft.
Review: Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.

The text

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Arabic original, Mutūn al-manṭiq wa-l-ḥikma: Īsāghūjī wa-l-Sullam al-munawraq, Jakarta 1434/2013

الْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِي قَدْ أَخْرَجَانَتَائِجَ الْفِكْرِ لِأَرْبَابِ الْحِجَا

وَحَطَّ عَنْهُمْ مِنْ سَمَاءِ الْعَقْلِكُلَّ حِجَابٍ مِنْ سَحَابِ الْجَهْلِ

حَتَّى بَدَتْ لَهُمْ شُمُوسُ الْمَعْرِفَهْرَأَوْا مُخَدَّرَاتِهَا مُنْكَشِفَهْ

Praise be to God, who has brought forth the results of thought for people of understanding, and has removed from them, from the sky of the intellect, every veil of the clouds of ignorance, until the suns of knowledge appeared to them and they saw its hidden brides unveiled.

Google Translate ↗p. 20

نَحْمَدُهُ جَلَّ عَلَى الْإِنْعَامِبِنِعْمَةِ الْإِيمَانِ وَالْإِسْلَامِ

مَنْ خَصَّنَا بِخَيْرِ مَنْ قَدْ أُرْسِلَاوَخَيْرِ مَنْ حَازَ الْمَقَامَاتِ الْعُلَا

مُحَمَّدٍ سَيِّدِ كُلِّ مُقْتَفَىالْعَرَبِيِّ الْهَاشِمِيِّ الْمُصْطَفَى

صَلَّى عَلَيْهِ اللّٰهُ مَا دَامَ الْحِجَايَخُوضُ مِنْ بَحْرِ الْمَعَانِي لُجَجَا

وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ ذَوِي الْهُدَىمَنْ شُبِّهُوا بِأَنْجُمٍ فِي الِاهْتِدَا

We praise Him, exalted is He, for His favour — the gift of faith and of Islam — who singled us out with the best of those ever sent, the best of those who attained the highest stations: Muḥammad, master of all who are followed, the Arab, the Hāshimī, the chosen one. May God bless him as long as the mind wades into the depths of the sea of meanings, and his family and companions, people of guidance, who were likened to stars to be guided by.

Google Translate ↗p. 20

وَبَعْدُ فَالْمَنْطِقُ لِلْجَنَانِنِسْبَتُهُ كَالنَّحْوِ لِلِّسَانِ

فَيَعْصِمُ الْأَفْكَارَ عَنْ غَيِّ الْخَطَاوَعَنْ دَقِيقِ الْفَهْمِ يَكْشِفُ الْغِطَا

فَهَاكَ مِنْ أُصُولِهِ قَوَاعِدَاتَجْمَعُ مِنْ فُنُونِهِ فَوَائِدَا

Now then: logic is to the mind what grammar is to the tongue. It guards thought against the error of mistakes and lifts the veil from subtle understanding. So here are rules from its foundations, gathering benefits from its branches.

Google Translate ↗p. 21

سَمَّيْتُهُ بِالسُّلَّمِ الْمُنَوْرَقِيُرْقَى بِهِ سَمَاءُ عِلْمِ الْمَنْطِقِ

وَاللّٰهَ أَرْجُو أَنْ يَكُونَ خَالِصَالِوَجْهِهِ الْكَرِيمِ لَيْسَ قَالِصَا

وَأَنْ يَكُونَ نَافِعًا لِلْمُبْتَدِيبِهِ إِلَى الْمُطَوَّلَاتِ يَهْتَدِي

I have named it al-Sullam al-munawraq, the Embellished Ladder, by which one climbs to the sky of the science of logic. I hope from God that it will be purely for His noble face, not falling short, and that it will benefit the beginner, so that by it he finds his way to the longer works.

Google Translate ↗p. 21

The lesson

The Sullam is a poem in rajaz metre of 144 verses, written in 941/1534 by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī of Biskra in present-day Algeria, when he was twenty-one. It is the first text of the North-African madrasas, from al-Azhar to al-Qarawiyyīn and al-Zaytūna, and of the Mauritanian maḥāḍir, where it is learnt by heart. Its plan is that of al-Abharī's : , then and the , then the kinds of proof.

The opening praises God for bringing forth “the results of thought”: the word for result, natīja, is also the 's word for a , and the poem plays on it. Then comes the famous comparison: logic is to the mind what grammar is to the tongue. Grammar keeps speech from error; logic keeps thought from error, and opens what is hard to understand.

Al-Akhḍarī calls his poem “the embellished ladder” (al-sullam al-munawraq), by which one climbs to the sky of , and hopes it will lead the beginner on to the longer works. That is its place in the madrasa: a short text to memorise, then read again with its .

Terms

الْمَنْطِقُ al-manṭiq: logic: to the mind what grammar is to the tongue
النَّتَائِجُ al-natāʾij: results; in logic, conclusions
الرَّجَزُ al-rajaz: the metre of teaching poems
الْمُطَوَّلَاتُ al-muṭawwalāt: the longer works, read after the short texts

Examples

فَالْمَنْطِقُ لِلْجَنَانِ نِسْبَتُهُ كَالنَّحْوِ لِلِّسَانِ
logic is to the mind as grammar is to the tongue

Test jezelf

3 questions on this lesson. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.

Vraag 1
To what does al-Akhḍarī compare logic?
Vraag 2
What does the title al-Sullam al-munawraq mean?
Vraag 3
What does the poet hope the poem will do for the beginner?

Volgende les: May one study logic?

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