The Balance: Logic in the Western & Islamic Traditions

Course Overview

Most people argue from instinct. They sense when something is wrong but cannot always say where the mistake lies — in the definition, the premise, the inference, or a hidden assumption. The Balance is designed to move students beyond instinctive argumentation into disciplined reasoning.

The course brings together two powerful traditions. Western formal and analytic logic for symbolic reasoning, proof, validity, truth tables, predicate logic, modality, and possible worlds. Islamic mantiq for conceptual discipline, definition, taṣawwur, taṣdīq, dalālah, universals, syllogistic reasoning, demonstration, dialectic, and sophistry.

The aim is not merely to study logic as an abstract subject. The aim is to learn how to think.

What Makes This Course Different

Many students encounter philosophy, kalām, uṣūl, or apologetics before they have been trained in the structure of reasoning itself. The result is often a student who knows many discussions and many arguments, yet still struggles to identify the exact logical structure underneath them.

The Balance trains students to ask:

• What exactly is being claimed?
• What do the key terms mean?
• Is the issue at the level of concept or judgement?
• Does the conclusion follow from the premises?
• Is the argument valid? Are the premises sound?
• Is the definition too broad, too narrow, circular, or ambiguous?
• Is the reasoning demonstrative, dialectical, rhetorical, or sophistical?
• Is the claim necessary, possible, impossible, or contingent?

By the end of the course, students should be able to analyse arguments with far greater precision and confidence.

Who This Course Is For

This course is ideal for students of:

• Islamic studies, kalām, and uṣūl al-fiqh
• Philosophy, theology, and comparative religion
• Daʿwah, apologetics, and argumentation
• Critical thinking and structured debate

It is also suitable for anyone who wants to reason with greater clarity, avoid common mistakes in argument, and understand both modern and classical approaches to logic.

No prior background in formal logic is required.

Language & Arabic Text Policy

This is an English-medium course. All teaching, discussion, exercises, assessments, and argument analysis are conducted in English. Arabic terms from the Islamic logical tradition are introduced as technical concepts. Students learn what terms such as taṣawwur, taṣdīq, dalālah, ḥadd, rasm, burhān, and jadal mean and how to use them in analysis. Beginner Arabic texts such as the Isāghūjī are studied with translation provided. No prior Arabic proficiency is required.

How to think about Arabic terms. Treat taṣawwur, taṣdīq, dalālah, ḥadd, rasm, burhān, jadal, and safsaṭah as technical tools. You are learning to use them in English analysis, not to pass an Arabic translation exam.

What You Will Be Able To Do by the End

• Analyse arguments with clarity and identify premises and conclusions
• Distinguish validity from soundness
• Recognise flawed definitions — circular, defective, broad, narrow, or ambiguous
• Explain the difference between taṣawwur and taṣdīq and use the core mantiq vocabulary accurately
• Understand syllogistic reasoning, the four figures, and conditional propositions
• Formalise English arguments into symbolic notation
• Use truth tables, natural deduction, and predicate logic
• Analyse necessity, possibility, impossibility, and contingency
• Evaluate philosophical and theological arguments more carefully
• Recognise when reasoning is demonstrative, dialectical, rhetorical, or sophistical
• Engage modern and classical traditions of logic with greater confidence

How the Course Works

Each month combines conceptual teaching, worked examples, technical drills, and one applied argument audit. The aim is not to read the largest number of pages — it is to build reliable habits of analysis.

Weekly drills. Short technical exercises: symbolic translations, proofs, definition audits, validity tests, syllogism checks, or modal analyses. The standard is accuracy and correction, not volume.

Monthly argument audit. Every four weeks, students take a contemporary philosophical, theological, or ideological argument and reconstruct it charitably, clarify the key terms, identify whether the issue is at the level of concept or judgement, formalise where possible, test validity, assess premises, and decide whether the argument should be accepted, rejected, repaired, or suspended pending further support.

Quarterly examinations. Practical assessments at the end of each quarter: sets and modality (Q1), dalālah and definition (Q2), formal proofs and models (Q3), syllogistics and modal analysis (Q4).

Final capstone. Students choose a philosophical, theological, or ideological argument and produce a structured analysis — defining key terms, identifying conceptual ambiguities, formalising the argument, testing validity, comparing modern formal logic with Islamic mantiq, and concluding whether the argument should be accepted, rejected, revised, or suspended.

Required & Guided Texts

Western logic and analytic philosophy

• David Papineau, Philosophical Devices — selected readings for Quarter 1
• Patrick Hurley, A Concise Introduction to Logic — sentential and predicate logic readings and exercises
• Theodore Sider, Logic for Philosophy — advanced reference for predicate logic, metalogic, and modal logic

Islamic logic

• Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī, Isāghūjī — required beginner Islamic logic text, read in translation or dual-text format with instructor support
• Al-Akhḍarī, Al-Sullam al-Munawraq — selected translated excerpts and instructor-mediated explanation
• Al-Taftāzānī, Sharḥ al-Tahdhīb — advanced reference, used selectively by the instructor for clarification and synthesis

Students are not expected to read advanced Arabic works independently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to have studied logic before? No. The course assumes no prior background in formal logic. You are introduced to the subject step by step, beginning with foundational concepts before moving into more advanced material.

Do I need to know Arabic? No prior Arabic is required. The course is taught in English; Arabic mantiq terms are explained conceptually, and beginner texts such as the Isāghūjī are studied with translation provided.

Is this a philosophy course or a logic course? It is primarily a logic and argument-analysis course, but it includes important philosophical material because logic is needed to understand and evaluate philosophical claims. Students study tools from analytic philosophy, formal logic, Islamic mantiq, kalām, and uṣūl.

Will there be homework? Yes — regular short exercises. The aim is not to overwhelm students with excessive reading, but to build skill through repeated practice.

Is this suitable for students of Islamic studies? Yes. The course is especially useful for students of Islamic studies, kalām, uṣūl, daʿwah, apologetics, theology, and philosophy.

What if I find symbolic logic difficult? The course is designed to support beginners. Students are guided through visual mapping, worked examples, and repeated exercises. The aim is technical mastery through manageable steps.

Why This Matters

We live in an age of constant argument — religious, political, philosophical, ideological — where confidence is mistaken for proof, rhetoric for demonstration, and complexity for depth. Logic gives the student a scale. It teaches the mind how to weigh.

The Balance is designed to give students that scale.

To register your interest or ask a question, email info@akhookum.com.