Description
Course Description:
This module offers a comprehensive study of Arabic logic (manṭiq) as outlined in the works of kalām. Students will read the classical premier Husām al-Dīn al-Kātī’s renowned commentary on Al-Abharī’s (d. 630/1265) Isāghūjī (Esagoge), otherwise known in the subcontinent by the name “Qāla Aqūlu”. Isāghūjī outlines the types and perquisites of the logical categories of knowledge (e.g. the conceptions and assents), as well as the methods of their acquisition (e.g. definitions and proofs).
Level: Alimiyyah Programme Year 4
Context:
Through studying topics pertaining to the Muslim-constructed Greek-rooted theories of knowledge, students will be introduced to an essential part of Islamic intellectual history, crucial for the proper understanding and mastery of classical texts in all the religious sciences. This module presents students with the opportunity to further their knowledge of classical Islam through a unique exposure to the contents of these topics on epistemology, as well as an overview of their historical development as discussed in modern academia.
Learning Outcomes:
Knowledge and Understanding:
This course helps students to:
- Understand the logical framework within which classical scholarship is constructed and developed.
- Demonstrate an awareness of the basic rational foundations of the Islamic sciences as developed in classical texts.
- Learn to contextualise classical texts within their wider rational structure.
- Identify the major and significant turns in the development of kalām at the boundaries of the logical tradition
- Demonstrate awareness of key Western academic debates on topics within the Islamic intellectual history
Skills:
- Ability to reconstruct and evaluate arguments in classical texts
- Ability to communicate and argue views with competence, clarity and persuasion
- Demonstrate the ability to engage with different ideas and viewpoints in a balanced and fair manner
- Demonstrate the ability to construct and critique arguments using classical rational tools.
- Evaluate a selected number of debates within the Islamic tradition based on their underlying principles.
Prerequisites:
Advanced knowledge of Arabic and ability to read classical texts.
Teaching and Learning Strategies:
Students are given key readings in advance each week. In each 1 hour class, the teacher leads a seminar on the lesson theme, which includes lecturing and class discussion.
Course Delivery:
This course will be delivered on campus and streamed live online using an online live streaming platform called ‘Zoom’. Lessons will be recorded and students provided access to them. Further details will be emailed to students 5 days before the course commences insha Allah.
For more information on how this works, please click here.
Course Teacher: Shaykh Uwais Namazi