resistance to logic by sunni muslim scholars

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A Statistical Portrait of the Resistance to Logic by Sunni Muslim Scholars Based on theWorks of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtī (849-909/1448-1505)Source: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2008), pp. 250-267Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40377962 .

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** *J«» * IslamicLaw\ M £ and'■/it»-s Societybrill M*w/c^w W Soc/V 5̂ (200SJ 50-267 www.bTiU.nl/ik

AStatistical ortrait f the Resistance oLogicbySunniMuslim cholars

Basedon the Works f Jalal l-Dinal-Suyuti(849-909/1448-1505)*

Mufti li

Abstract

On the basis f my nalysis f fourworks omposed y l-Suyuti, argue hat ostilityto ogicwas a predominant eature f Sunni cholarship, specially uring he13th,

14th, nd 15th enturies. ogicwas condemned ydistinguished unni cholars nValencia, ez, Aleppo, raq, nd Mecca,but especiallyn Egypt nd Syria. hiscon-clusion onfirms oldziher's rgument hat esistance o ogic tarted lready n the2nd/8th entury nd increased n the 13th and 14th centuries; nd disconfirmsal-Rouayhebargument hat pposition o ogicwasnever redominantmongMuslimSunni cholars.

KeywordsIslamic aw, ogic, l-Suyuti, rosopography

Introduction

In his Stellung, oldziher uggests hatJa'far l-Sadiq d. 148/764),the seventh mam of the Shl'l Ithnd Ashariyya, ondemned ogic

Correspondence:omplek igadungMandiri, lok- ,no. 17,Pandeglang2251BantenIndonesia. -mail:[email protected].* Currently taff ecturer, aculty fTheology,AINBantenndonesia,ndPh.Dcandidateat the UniversityfLeiden, heNetherlands, nder he upervisionf Prof. r. P.S. vanKoningsveld,o whom express y ratitude. alsothank rof. avid S. Powers ndananonymous eader or heir elpful omments ndsuggestionsn an earlier raft f hisessay.

© KoninklijkerillNV,Leiden, 008 DOI: 10.1163/156851908X290600







M.AH Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267 251

because he understood hat Aristotle's method of proof on "thevalidity f religious octrines" ould result n grave vil.1 o Ja'farthe following uote s ascribed: Peoplewilloccupy hemselves ithlogic until they will question ven their elief n God. If you hearanything f this kind, ay: there s no god except heunique One;there s nothing ikeunto Him.'"2Among he cholarswho opposedlogic,Goldzihermentions he Shafi'l bn al-Salah l-Shahrazurl d.643/1246), heHanball bn Taymiyyad. 729/1329), nd the Shafi'l

Jalall-Dln

al-Suyuti d.909/1

05).3

Accordingo Goldziher, n-

tagonism o the study f logic increased fter l-Ghazall d. 505/llll).4

Opposition o logic took the form f condemning ogicians ndburning heir reatises. Makdisi suggests hat opposition o logic5was also reflected y the emergence f madrasas, r 'law colleges,'centers or rainingurists nd nstitutions f earning ith ormalizedcurricula hat excluded he foreign ciences', ncluding hilosophyand logic.6

0 I. Goldziher, DieStellung er lten Orthodoxie u den antiken Wissenschaften,"nGesammeltechriften1970)vol.5, 357-400 originally ublishednAbhandlungenerkonig. reuss. kademieerWissenschaften1915-1916],-46) I rely n the nglish rans-lation fGoldziher'srticle yMerlin . Swartz,TheAttitude fOrthodox slam owardthe Ancient ciences,"'n Studies n slam NewYork nd Oxford: xford niversityPress, 981),185-215.2)Goldziher,Attitude/' 99.3)Goldziher,Attitude,"01-8.4)Goldziher,Attitude,"04.5)AccordingoMakdisi, uslim cholars ere ngagednthe trugglegainst he doptionof Rationalistnstrumentsfmethodology,'hilosophy,ogic nddialectic.eeG.Makdisi,TheRise fHumanismn Classicalslam nd theChristian est ith pecialReferenceoScholasticismEdinburgh: dinburgh niversity ress, 990),7, 43.6)G. Makdisi iscusses pposition o the foreign ciences,'n the following orks: ise,3;"Law ndTraditionalismnthe nstitutions fLearning fMedievalslam,"n TheologyandLaw n slam, d.G.E.vonGrunebaumWiesbaden: tto Harrassowitz,971),75-89; "TheNon-Ash'aritehafVismf AbuHamidGhazzali", evue esEtudesslamiquesLIV, 1986,239-57;"Ash'ari nd the Ash'aritesn IslamicReligious istory ," Studio,

IslamicayVII,1962,37-80; Ash'arind theAsh'aritesn slamic eligious istory I,"StudiaIslamica,XVIIl,963,19-39; TheJuridical heologyf hafTl: rigins ndSigni-ficance f Usulal-Fiqh? tudia slamica, IX,1984,5-48;"Hanbaliteslam," n MerlinL. Swartz ed. and transl.), tudies n slam NewYork nd Oxford: xford niversity







252 M. AH Islamic aw and Society5 (2008)250-267

Hostility othe foreign ciences'was also reflected, akdisi tates,in the emergence of the personal choolsof aw in the second halfof the 2nd/8thentury; n the proliferation f mosquesfor hestudyof law in the 3rd/9th nd 4th/ 0th enturies;" n the "subsequentdevelopment nd proliferation f the madrasa* n the 4th/ 0th nd5th/ 1th enturies; nd in the "significant evelopment f other on-servative nstitutions, uch as the ddr al-hadith? n the 6th 12thcentury.7

Goldziher ssociates healleged

decline of Muslim civilizationwith Muslimresistance o the Greek ciences,' nd Makdisi quatesthe resistance o logic with the emergence f madrasas. imilarly,Brentjes ttributes he decline of Muslim civilization fter he 13thcentury o four factorswhich mplicitly eflect esistance o logic:(1) The dichotomy between the ancient rational' sciences andreligious nd legalsciences; 2) the marginal osition f the ancientsciences n the Muslim world; 3) "the rejection f innovation s apositive aluefor Muslim ociety nd the nsistence n social practicebasedon authoritative earning"; nd (4) the replacement f philo-sophy by "the canon of religious uties s the deal of salvation."8

In his 2004 article,9 l-Rouayheb hallenges oldziher's rgument,confirmed y Makdisiand Brentjes,10hat opposition o logic wasalreadymanifest n the 2nd/8th entury nd increased n intensityin the 13th nd 14th enturies, hen l-Shahrazuri nd Ibn Taymiyyacomposedworks n which they censured t. El-Rouayheb ejectsMakdisi's uggestion hat opposition o logicwas facilitated y theestablishment f madrasas hatwereopposedto Greek earning. l-Rouayheb lsoquestionsGoldziher's uggestion hathostility o ogic

Press, 981),216-74; bn Quddmas ensuref peculativeheology:nEdition nd Trans-lation f bnQuddmas ahriml-Nazarfi utub hl l-KaldmLondon: uzac&CompanyLtd., 1962), x.7)Makdisi, ise, 82-3.8)SonjaBrentjes,Orthodoxy",ncientciences,ower,nd heMadrasa'college")nAyyubidand arly amluk amascusInternational orkshop xperiencendKnowledgetructuresinArabic nd Latin ciences rganized yMuhammad battouy nd PaulWeinig,Max

Planck nstitute or heHistory f Science erlin, ecember 6-17,1996),3.9)Khaled l-Rouayheb,SunniMuslim cholars n the Status f Logic,1500-1800,"Islamic aw and Society1,2 (2004),213-32.10)Goldziher, Attitude/' 98,201-8;Makdisi, ise, 82-3;Brentjes,Orthodoxy,".







M. AH Islamic aw and Society5 (2008)250-267 253

was found predominantly mong Sunni scholars, at least betweenthe ndorsement f the discipline yAbu Hamid al-Ghazall d. 505/1111) and the rise of the Salafiyyan the nineteenth nd twentiethcenturies."

El-Rouayheb ases his argument n discussions oncerning hestatus f logic by Sunni scholars n the period between 1500 and1800. He argues hat hostility o logicwas a minority osition nscholarly ircles hroughout hisperiod." ince"many f the cholars

of this period egularlynvoked arlier uthorities n

supportf their

position," l-Rouayhab ays,Goldziher's uggestion hat hostility ologic was a predominant eature f Sunni scholarship, speciallybetween he 13th nd 14th enturies, s no longer enable.11

In this ssay, revisit he status f ogicby discussing ourworkscomposedby al-Suyuti:Al-Qawlal-Mushriq i Tahrim l-Ishtighdlbi-ilm al-Mantiq hereinafter: M), Jahd al-Qariha fi Tajrid al-Nasiha (hereinafter: Q), Sawn al-Mantiq wall-Kaldman Fannayal-Mantiq wa'l-Kaldm hereinafter: M), and a fatwd gainst ogic(hereinafter: atwd).An analysis f the contents f these ourworksindicates hat hostility o logic did becomea predominant eatureof Sunni hinking, specially uring he13th, 4th, nd 15th enturies.A prosopographical tudy f the opponents f logic mentioned yal-Suyuti howsthat ogicwas condemned y distinguished unnischolars n Valencia,Fez,Aleppo, raq, and Mecca, but especiallyin Egypt nd Syria.

Before iscussing hesefour works, hree oints houldbe noted:

First,he uthorities isted n these ourworks re

meagren number,

but their prominence nd professional tatus combine to suggestthat opposition o logic was a prevalent eature f Sunni Islam.Second,although QM, JQ, SM and the Fatwd convey he sharednormativemessageof their uthors s a prominent egal scholar,i.e., that ogic s prohibited, heseworksguide us to rich prosopo-graphical ata which hed ight n the history f the opposition ologic n the slamicworld.Third, n his Fatwd gainst ogic l-Suyutilists hose ndividuals hohe claimed were pposedto logicwithout

lI) El-Rouayheb,Sunn Muslim cholars," 15.







254 M.Ali Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267

identifying hem. ut hismerit houldbe acknowledged ere, ecausehe has added new data that are indispensable or further roso-pographical tudy n the history f opposition ologic. n addition,his ist of scholars who were opposedto logicmay erve s a guide-line for understanding he anti-logic osition dopted by medievalMuslim scholars.

Al-Suyuti'sexts hat Deal with

Oppositiono

LogicAl-Suyuti iscusses pposition ologic n fourworks:QM, JQ, SM,and afatwd gainst ogic. nternal vidence uggests hat QM waswritten irst, ollowed y JQ, SM, and finally he Fatwd.

QM, JQ, SM, and the Fatwd represent l-Suyutfs ystematicattempt o demonstrate hat numerous cholars f different enera-tions were vehemently pposed to logic. These scholars xpressedtheir ostility n variousways.Somecomposedworks gainst ogic;some ssued

atwds gainstt; and some

encouraged eopleto expel

logiciansfrom he community, o burn their works, nd even tokill them.

1. QM:Contextnd Content

QM is available n two manuscripts. he first as formerly ousedin the Asafiyya ibrary n Hyderabad ut is now preserved n theAndhra Pradesh Government riental Manuscripts ibrary ndResearch nstitute.12 he second s a copymadeby the ate MustafaNaji, staff ibrarian f the Public Library t Rabat Morocco),froma heavily amagedQM manuscript n a private ollection. hiscopywas prepared orVan Koningsveld nd is now part of his privatecollection. t contains 18 pages (A4 paper) with 30 lines on eachpage. There re numerous acunae. The script s clear,with vowels

12)GAL, . II, 189. n 1975, llof he manuscriptsf heAsafiyyaibrary ere ransferredto the Andhra radesh

overnment rientalManuscriptsibrary ndResearchnstitute,located n the ampus f heOsmaniaUniversity.ee OmarKhalidi, AGuide oArabic,Persian, urkish, ndUrduManuscript ibrariesn ndia,"MELANotes 5-76 Fall 002-Spring 003),esp.8-9.







M. AH IslamicLawand Society 5 (2008) 250-267 255

for easy understanding f ambiguous words. Variant readings regivenfor passages hat re unclear.13

In his Kitdb Bahjat al-Abidin bi Tarjamat Hdfiz al-Asr Jaldlal-Din,14 l-Shadhili15 uotes al-Suyutl as saying: "...Generallyspeaking, think ittle f logic. Then I came across tatements yleading cholars ensuring t and a fatwd f Ibn al-Salah gainst t.As a result becameaverse o it completely. herefore, wrotequire [of a work] which entitled l-Ghayth l-Mughriq i Tahrim

al-Mantiqn(> This statement

uggestshat al-Suyuti omposed a

work on logic other han QM. In fact, his al-Ghayth l-Mughriqis identical with QM. That he did not write nother work on thesamesubjectbecomes learfrom he fact hat he does not mentional-Ghayth l-Mughriq n either his al-Tahadduth17 r his Husn al-Muhddara™nor does he mention other works dealing with thesame subject. n the introduction o SM, for nstance, l-Suyutlwrites: Longago, in the year 867 or 868 [H], I composed bookon the condemnation f the tudy f ogic,which called"al-Qawl

al-Mushriq" n it I included tatementsmade

bylearned men of

Islam who condemned t."19Al-Shadhili lso quotes al-Suyuti s

13) would iketo expressmy gratitude o Prof. r. P. Sj.van Koningsveldf LeidenUniversity, hoprovidedmewith copy f this ranscription.14)Ms. Chester eatty ibrary, ublin, 436, 10,4574(2).I would ike o thank araWilliams f his ibrary, hokindly rovided ewith copy f thismanuscript.15) Abdl-Qadir .Muhammadl-Shadhili as l-Suyuti closest isciplendoneofhisbiographers. l-Suyutl avehim he khirqa the uflmantle) ignifyingcceptancentothe ilsila nd denoting hat l-Shadhili asan authorized ractitionernd nstructor fmystical eaching. See E. M Sartain, Jaldl al-Din al-Suyuti: Biography nd Background(Cambridge: ambridge niversity ress, 975),34,49.16)Text: "...fa zdaraytu l-mantiq umlatan thumma waqaftu aid kaldm al-ulama pdhammihiwa-md ftd ihi bn l-saldh a-miltu an al-mantiq ulla l-maylfa llaftu urrdsat

al-ghaythl-mughriqflahriml-mantiq..? S,Chester eatty ibrary, ublin, ol. ib;cf. nappendixnal-SuyutiKitdb l-Tahadduth iNimati lldh, d.E.M. SartainCairo:al-Matba'at l-cArabiyyal-Hadltha), 41.17)Anautobiographicalork n which l-Suyutlists ll hiswritings, l-Tahadduth, 05-36;he refers oQM on p. 114.18) n his Husn al-Muhddara i Akhbdr Misr wa l-Qdhira Cairo: Matba at al-Mawsu at,

1903,159), l-Suyutl efers nly oQM,which s isted soneof he works

ealingith

jurisprudence.19)Seeal-Suyutl's ntroduction o Sawn al-Mantiq wal-Kaldm an Fannay l-Mantiq wa'l-Kakm, d. AllSamI l-NashsharCairo:Matba'at l-Sa'ada, 947),33.







256 M. AH/Islamic aw and Society 5 (2008) 250-267

saying hat he wrote treatise gainst ogic when he was eighteenyears old: "...If someone fabricates ies to you [about me], knowthat ince my boyhood have been determined o love the Sunnaand Tradition nd to abhor the sciences f the ancients, .e., philo-sophy and logic. I composed a work] condemning ogic when Iwas eighteen years old..."20Here al-Suyuti s clearly eferring oQM. Al-Ghayth l-Mughriqmay have been an alternative itle ofthe work.

Althoughome Shf and Mu'tazill scholars

igorously pposedlogic, al-Suyuti imits his discussion n QM to Sunni scholars. nhis discussion f logic,he does not make a singlereference o theZaydi Ibn al-Wazir l-San'anl 840/1374), who condemned Greeklogic and philosophy n his Tarjlh Asdlib al-Qur'dn aid Asdllbal-Yundn?1 imilarly, l-Suyuti ays nothing bout the systematicopposition o logic by the Mu'tazill bn al-Shirshlr d. 293/905)and the Shfl Hasan b. Musa al-Nawbakhtl d. ca. 310/922), theauthor f al-Radd aid Ahl al-Mantiq.

Al-Suyuti attack n logic n QM was criticised y a number fscholars. Al-Maghlll22 rote him a letter n verse n which heexpressed issurprise t the fact hat l-Suyuti adcomposed book

20)Text: "qdla rahimahu lldh dhd taqatuwalah akafa *lam nni mundhu inin nasha'tualqaytu bi-hubbi l-sunnawa'l-hadith wa bughdi %bidd wa 'ulum l-awail min falsafa wamantiq wa allaftufi dhamm al-mantiq wa and ibn thamdn ashrata anatan..." MS, al-Shadhili, Kitdb Bahjat, fol. 34b.2I) Madelung suggests hat the great avant and the independent mujtahid bn al-Waziral-San'aniplayed significant ole n moderating aydi teachings o make them acceptableto Sunnis. Al-San'anls voluminous al-Awdsim wa'l-Qawdsimrepresents is defence ofSunni schooldoctrines nd critique f Zaydi teachings. ikewise,Madelung ays, l-San'aniaccepted the Sunni canonical collection of hadith s authoritative n religious eaching.Al-San'anIfavored he neo-Sunni school in an effort o accommodate the religious iewsand sentiments f the majority f the people who lived under the control of the ZaydiImamate. The long-lasting aydi rule n Yemen 284-382/897-962) is said to have owedmuch to al-San'anl's merit. ee EP, s.v. Zaydiyya W. Madelung).22)Muhammad b. Abd al-Karimal-Maghlll l-Tilimsanl, reformistfaqih widelyknownfor his persecution f the Jewish ommunity n Touat, was born n 842/1440 in Tilimsanwhere he

studied under a number of scholars, ncluding Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alabl d.875/1470) and Yahyab. Yadlr l-Tadallisi d. 877/1477). He died in 909/1 504. He wrotetwenty-six orks, mainly on fiqh and tawhid. He also was interested n formal logic(mantiq). He composed a treatise n logic entitled Minah al-Wahhdb i Radd al-Fikr aid







M. Mi I Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267 257

condemning ogic nd prohibiting eoplefrom ccupying hemselveswith t.23 n this etter, ited n Tarjamat l-Suyuti24 y al-Dawudial-Maliki,25l-Maghlli uggests hat ogic mantiq) eads one to thetruth nd guides the ignorant n his search o find t.26 ikewise,logic can be used to examine he truth f each utterance made inan argument. ne cannot find ound proof, l-Maghlli ontinues,exceptby means of logic.27 l-Maghlli nows hat ogic s alien toMuslims nd borrowed rom he infidel Greeks.Nevertheless, ueto its benefit n

argumentation,e

argueshatMuslims houldmake

use of logicas a tool.28

2./Q: Contextnd Content

In the ntroduction o SM, al-Suyuti otes that JQ was composedin 888/1482, wenty ears fter M: "I related n it [QM] that heShaykh l-Isldm, ne of the scholars who has reached hedegree fijtihdd, aqi al-Din b. Taymiyya, omposeda book to destroy tsfoundations, hich had not found t that ime.Twenty ears ater,I still had not found t. Then this year,when was told that Godhad conferred pon me the rank of Mujtahid, omeonementioned

al-Sawdbywhich was widely tudied n West Africa. ee EP, s.v. al-Maghlli J>O. Hun-wick).23)Text: "wa kataba ild sahib al-tarjama dlim l-mamlaka l-takrilriyya djal-din abu 7-fadl muhammad bn abd al-karim l-tilimsdni bydt ata ajjabu fthd minh haythu llafakitdbfidhamm l-mantiq wa'l-nahy an al-ishtighdlbih. " See al-Dawudi al-Maliki, Tarja-mat l-Suyuth Wetzstein , 20 (abbr. WE, Staatsbibliothek u Berlin), fol. 70b-72a.24)we i$ 20, fol. 70b-72a in Staatsbibliothek u Berlin. wish to expressmy gratitudeto Dr. Hans Kurio of the Staatsbibliothek u Berlin,who provided me with copy of thismanuscript. he manuscript, which has 31 lines, s written n a clear hand and has nolacunae. This poetic correspondence n the egal status of logic can be found n AhmadBabaal-Tinbuktl, ay al-Ibtihdj i-Tatriz l-Dibdj, printed n the margins f bn Farhun,al-Dibdj al-Mudhahhab t Mdrifat Aydn al-Madhhab (Cairo: Matba'at al-Sa'ada, 1329/1911), 330-2.25)Al-Dawudiwasone of al-Suyuti students nd biographers. n one occasion, l-Suyutlcommissionedhim to supervise is books and to be responsible orlending o the visitorsbooks housed in the al-Azhar Mosque-library. ee Sartain, Jaldl al-Din al-Suyuti, 2,

111.26>al-Maliki, Tarjama, fol. 71a.27)bid.28)bid.







258 M. AH Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267

that one of the conditions or jtihdd s knowledge f the art oflogic.He claimed hat lacked this condition. he poor fellow idnot understand hat know t better han hose who claim to knowand defend t. I know the principles f ts foundations, he nsightsbased thereon, s well as the leading ogicians f today, with theexception f our very earned eacher,Muhyi l-Dln al-Kafiyaji d.879/1475]. Thus I looked for bn Taymiyyas ook, till found t.I saw that he called t Nasihat Ahl al-Imdn t al-Radd aid Mantiqal-Yundn. n it, he

brilliantlyemonstrates is intention o

destroyits foundations ne by one, while explaining heweaknesses f itsprinciples. therefore ummarized t in a little ompositionwhichI entitled ahd l-Qariha t Tajrid l-Nasiha"29

3. SM: Contextnd Content

There s no doubt that M was composed fter Q.This conclusionis based on al-Suyutl's wn report n SM (see above).Al-SuyutIcomplains, owever, hatmany harlatans viz.,his opponents) skedhim to explainwhy ogic is prohibited; he sources n which bnSalah relied n his legal decision, tc.30n response, l-Suyutl aid:"Thus, decidedto compose n elaborate ook [to prohibit ogic,]following he ourse f jtihdd, evealing he ruth, n which explainthe correctness f what Ibn al-Salah claimed in relation o theprohibition f [the study of logic] to the aforementioned eople.Then, when I began [to compose the book], I felt compelled omention tatements ade by eading cholars rohibiting hestudyof

theology.ecauseof the intricate onnection etween he two

[viz., heology nd logic,] entitled he book Sawn al-Mantiqwa'l-Kaldm an Fannay l-Mantiq wa'l-Kaldmthe Defenceof [Islamic]Logicand Theology gainst heArt f Greek] ogicand Theology]),but only God enables us to reach our goal."31

In SM, al-Suyutl ometimes elies n JQ. He also quotes versesby Ibn al-Qushayrl, ited by Ibn Taymiyya n his Nasthd:

29)Al-Suyutl, awn, 33-4.30)Al-Suyuti, awn, 33.31)Al-Suyutl, awn, 33-6.







M.AH Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267 259

We severed he ies f brotherhood ith hose trickenBy hemalady f the bookof l-Shifa

They hen ied while ollowinghereligion fAristotleAndwe ived ccording othe Religion f the ChosenOne.32

According o al-Suyutl, bn Taymiyya lso said: "The Greeks wereinfidel olytheists ho worshipped heplanets nd idols;they weremuch worse than the Jews and the Christians fter he Greeksabrogated nd altered the true religion]."33

In SM, al-Suyutl dopts the persona of a systematic istorian,drawing ur attention o the fact that logic and theology wereopposed by distinguished cholars f different enerations. n hisdiscussion f Muslim opposition to logic, al-Suyutl rranges isargument ystematically: irst, edealswith he origin f ogic;thenhe discusses ts transmission o the religious ommunity f Islam;he continues y discussing heconnection etween sulal-fiqh ndusul l-din, n the one hand, and between sul l-din nd logiconthe other.

Finally,e lists the names of the scholars who

opposedlogic, tarting ith al-Shafi'l nd ending with bn Taymiyya.The background o the composition f SM is clarified n al-

Tahadduth, hich estifies oal-Suyutl ambition o attain he evelof ijtihdd. ince, according o his opponents, ogic is a necessarycondition orbeing a mujtahid, e must prove to them that he iswell-versedn logic and the principles f its foundation. owever,he feels compelledto follow the course of his predecessors hoprohibited eoplefrom ccupying hemselves ith ogic.This s why

he composed work condemning he study f logic.34In SM, al-Suyutl ites the followingworks that deal explicitlywith opposition ologic:The debate betweenAbu Said al-Sirafi d.368/979) and Matta b. Yunus d. 328/940)35 nd NasihatAhl air

32)W. B. Hallaq,bnTaymiyyagainstheGreek ogicians,ranslation ith n ntroductionandnotes Oxford: larendon ress, 993),173.33)W. B.Hallaq, bn Taymiyya,73;al-Suyutl, awn, 7-8.34)Mufti li, Jaliil l-Din l-Suyutl gainst ogic nd Kalam:Analysisnd Significance

of Sawn l-Mantiqwa'l-Kaldman Fannay l-Mantiq wa'l-Kaldm? amdard slamicus,XXVIII,2 (2005),25.35)D.S.Margoliouth dited heArabic ext f the debate nd translatedt nto English,"TheDiscussionetween buBishrMatta ndAbuSa'ldal-Slrafl n the Merits fLogic







260 M.AH Islamic awandSociety5(2008)250-267

Imdn i Radd 'aid Mantiq al-Yundn y Ibn Taymiyya. he FatdwdIbn al-Saldh i ll-Tafsir a'l-Hadithwal-UsulwaVaqaid dealsonlyincidentally ith the resistance o logic.

Why doesal-Suyutl ase himself xclusivelyn the forementionedworks?Why didn't he use works gainst ogic, uch as TarjlhAsdllbal-Qurdn aidAsdllb l-Yundn y the Zaydi Ibn al-WazIr l-San'aniwho, according o al-Nashshar, as heavily nfluenced y Ibn Tay-miyya;36heMifidhDdr al-Sadda?7by the Hanball Ibn al-Qayyim

al-Jawziyya d. 751/1351),or Kasr

al-Mantiq bythe Shi'i Abu

'1-Naja' l-Farld?Two explanations ome to mind: 1) Al-Suyuti ad at his disposal

only the treatises gainst ogic discussed n SM; (2) as an apologist,he needed to refine is arguments y selecting is sources n sucha way as to convince his opponents. he secondexplanation s themore ikely ne, for two reasons.

(a) In his autobiographical ork, l-Tahadduth i-Nimati lldh,al-Suyutlmaintains hat all the mujaddids f preceding enturies,with the exception f 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'AzIz,38 ere Shafi'is:Al-Shafi'l,Abu 'l-cAbbas . al-Surayj,Abu Hamid al-Isfara'inl, buHamid al-Ghazall, akhr l-Dln al-RazI, heShaykh aqI al-Dln b.Daqlq al-'Id, and Siraj al-Dln al-Bulqinl.39 his is confirmed y

and Grammar," ournal f heRoyal siatic ocietyLondon:1905),79-130.The text fthis iscussionan lsobefound n l-Imta wa'l-Mudnasa,d.Ahmad mln ndAhmadal-Zayn Cairo:Lajnat l-Talif, 953), , 107-28.36)All amI l-Nashshar, andhij l-BahthindaMufakkiril-IsldmCairo:Daral-Ma'arif,1978),223.37)Althoughl-Suyutloesnotmention hiswork nSM,hedealswith t n hisbiographicalwork, ughyatl-Wu tywhen iscussingts uthor. ee al-Suyutl, ughyatl-Wudt, sted. Cairo:Matbaat l-Saada,1326/1908), 5.38)n assertinghe entral ole f Shafi'ismmong hemujaddids,l-Suyutluggestshat'Umar . Abd l-'Aziz, he irst ujaddid, as, ike l-Shafi'l, member f he Prophetfamily min lirasul lldh) Seeal-Suyutl, l-Tahadduth,17.39)Text: Wa-wajadndjamia an lla nnahumab'iithfi askullimi mimman amadhhababi-madhhabl-shdfii a-inqddii-qawlih,alimnd nnahu l-imdm l-mab'uth lladhi

staqarramral-nds

aid awlih, a-buitha a'dahft a's ullimi manyuqarrir adhhabah?Seeal-Suyuti,l-Tahadduth,18;This opicsdealtwith y . Goldzihern "Zur Charak-teristikSelalud-din s-Sujuti und einer iterarischenhatigkeit," esammeltechriften(1967), , 52-73.







M. Alii Islamic aw andSociety5(2008)250-267 261

Hallaq,whosuggests hat irtually ll of the mujaddids ere hafi'is.40(b) It is noteworthy hat leven f the thirteen uthorswhoseworksare abridged n SM were affiliated ith the Shafi'l chool.41

In the composition f SM, al-Suyuti ays: "Thus, decided tocompose n elaborate ook,following hecourse f jtihdd, evealingthe truth, n which explain the correctness f what bn al-Salahclaimed n relating he prohibition of the study of logic] to theaforementioned eople."42

4. The atwd:Contextnd Content

That the Fatwdwas composed fter Qand SM is clearly ndicatedin the following tatement y al-Suyuti: ... and [then followed]al-Taql b. Taymiyya, ho composeda large volume to condemnlogic and destroy ts foundations ntitled NaslhatDhawi 'l-Imdn iyl-Raddaid Mantiq al-Yundn, hich have summarized nto one-third f its original ize. [Also]I have composeda volume con-

demning ogic,n which havecollected tatements

gainstt made

by the earned men..."43 he abridgement f bn Taymiyya's asihainto one-third f its original izeis JQ; and the volume composedby al-Suyuti gainst ogic, of course, an only be SM,44 n whichal-Suyutimarshals hearguments gainst ogicof more han thirty-six scholars f various uridical chools.

40)W B.Hallaq,TheGate fljtihad: Studyn slamic egal istory, h.D.Diss.,UniversityofWashingtonUniversity icrofilmsnternational, 983),79;"Was heGateof jtihadClosed/' nternational ournalorMiddle astern tudies, VI, 1984,28.41)Thetwonon-ShafiTsre l-HarawiHanball) nd Umar . Abd l-Barr Maliki).42)Al-Suyuti, awn, 5.43)Text: ...wa'l-taqi .taymiyyaa-allafafihammih a-nassaawaidahmujallad abiran

sammdh asihat hawi L-imanfi radd alamantiq l-yundn a-qad khtasartuhfiahw

thulth ajmih a-allaftufihamml-mantiq ujalladaqtufih ususl-aimmafi hdlika.Fatwd f l-Suyuti, ar al-Kutub, ajami'Qawwala 5, fol. 28a.44)Al-Suyuti efers oQM as a quire f paper kurrdsa). M is a flat olume.







262 M. AH IslamicLaw and Society 5 (2008) 250-267

Prosopographical ata: Opposition to Logic n the Works fal-Suyuti

Al-Suyutfs iscussion f Muslim opposition o logic suggests hathe applied what Humphrey nd Van Ess call a prosopographicalapproach.He attempts o establish s many facts s possible boutall the ndividuals onsidered o havebeen connected o a particularsubject, nd then o assemble hesefacts nto a collective ortrait.45The goal of this approach s to provide what Van Ess calls uein

statistisches ild H6 n his four works, l-Suyutl ndeavours o per-suadehis readers hat ogicwas opposedby many eading cholars.Here follows chronologically rranged urvey f these cholars.

No. Name Year of LegalAff. Residence Work(s)CitedDeath

_L Abu Hanifa47 150/768 Eponym Baghdad2. al-Shafi'i48 203/820 Eponym Egypt3. Abu Said al-Sirafi 368/979 Hanafi Baghdad al-Mundzara

_4. Abu Talib al-Makki 383/994 Maliki Mecca Qut al-Qulub^ Ibn Abi Zayd ca.386/997 Maliki al-Risdla

45)R.S. Humphreys, slamic History:A Framework or Inquiry New Jersey: rincetonUniversity ress, 1991), 198.46)Joseph van Ess, Theologie nd Gesellschaftm 2. und 3. Jahrhundert idschra, EineGeschichte es religiosen enkens m fruhen slam (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter,1991), I, ix.47)Abu Hanifas condemnation f logiccan be inferred rom isexplicit erogatory emarkon philosophy, bout which l-Suyutl uotes al-HarawI as having aid: "Tayyib b. Ahmadtold me Muhammad b. al-Husayn told us Abu 1-Qasimb. Matawayh oldus, relatingthe fact hat Hamid b. Rustam spoke to us, that al-Hasan b. al-Mutf had related boutthe fact hat brahim b. Rustam, on the authority f... said: I said to Abu Hanlfa: Whatdo you think bout the fact hat people argue with each other bout forms nd bodies?Then he said: [these re] the utterances f the philosophers. ou have to follow hetraditionand the course of the ancestors, ewareof any novelties ecause they re nnovations." eeal-Suyutl, awn, 66.48)Al-Suyutl uotes al-Shafi'i s having said that the ignorance of the people and theircontroversies re only ausedby their leaving helanguage f the Arabs nd their nclinationto the

languagef Aristotle.

Accordingo

al-Suyutl,l-ShafTi

urthersuggests hatpeoples

neglect of the language of the Arabs and their nclination to the language of Aristotlebrought bout the emergence f the dispute on the createdness f the Koran, the negationof the divine vision and other nnovations. ee al-Suyuti, awn, 48.







M. Mi I Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267 263

No. Name Yearof Legal Residence Work(s) itedDeath Aff.

6. Abu 1-Hasan . al-Hassar 392/1003 Maliki7. Abu 1-Hasan . al-Habib 406/1016 Maliki Nishapur

al-Nisaburi8. Ibn Abd al-Barr 463/1071 Maliki Cordoba Ithdf l-Nubala9. Abu Nasr b. al-Qushayri 469/1077 Shafi'i Nishapur10. Abu Walid al-Baji 474/1081 Maliki Almeira11. Ibn al-Sabbagh 477/1085 Shafi'i Nishapur al-Shdmil12. al-Juwayni 478/1085 Shafi'i Nishapur

13. Nasral-Maqdisi 490/1098 Shafi'i Damascus al-Hujja14. al-Ghazali49 505/1111 Shafi'i Tus Ihya & al-Tafriqa15. Abu Bakr l-Turtushi 520/1127 Maliki Damascus16. Abu Bakrb. al-'Arabi 543/1148 Maliki Seville17. Al-'Attar 'Aqbada) 569/1174 Shafi'i Hamadhan18. Ibn Asakir 571/1176 Shafi'i Damascus Ta'rikh19. al-Silafi 576/1180 Shafi'i Alexandria Mujam al-Safar20. Ibn al-Jawzi 597/1201 Hanbali Baghdad Talbis blis21. 'Imad al-Dinb. Yunus 608/1212 Shafi'i22. Ibn Jubayr l-Kinani 614/1217 Maliki Valencia al-Rihla

23. Ibn Bundar 622/1226 Shafi'i Damascusa7 al-Rafi'i 623/1226-7 Shafi'i Qazwini al-Sharh l-Saghir25. al-Tibi 624/1228 Shafi'i26~ Ibn al-Athir 630/1233 Shafi'i Mosul27. Ibn Abd al-Salam 632/1235 Shafi'i28. Abu Habib al-Malaqi 640/1243 Maliki al-Andalus29. Ibn al-Salah 643/1254 Shafi'i Damascus Fatdwd30. Abu Shama 665/1268 Shafi'i Damascus al-Tawakkul31. Abu Amir . Rabi' 666/1268 Maliki32. al-Nawawi 676/1277 Shafi'i Damascus TabaqduShark

al-Muhadhdhab,al-Rawda

33. 'Abdal-Satir 679/1281 Hanbali DamascusIi4~ Ibn Abi Hamza 695/1296 Maliki | Cairo |

49)Referring oal-Mustasfd,l-Suyutl uotes l-Ghazali shaving aid: "hddhihimuqaddimatal-ulum kullihd wa-man dyuhitu bihd a-Id thiqata ahii bi 'uliimihi slan [Logic]is theintroduction oall sciences. ne who s not well-versedn t,his uthority nthe ciencesis not reliable t all.")-Basing himself n Nasihat al-Muslim l-Mushfiq i-man Ubtuliya

bi Hubb Ilm l-Mantiq y Siraj l-Dinal-Qazwinld. 750/1349), l-Suyutl, owever,convincinglyrgues hat l-Ghazali adretreated rom his pinion. eeal-Suyuti state-ments n QM, p. 1,1.22-3:"wa-qadrajda anhddha l-qawlkamd aqalahul-hafizirdjal-dln l-qazwini. "







264 M. AH Islamic aw andSociety5 (2008)250-267

No. Name IYearof ILegal IResidence IWork(s)CitedDeath Aff.

35. Ibn Daqiqal-'Id 702/1302 Shafi'i Cairo36. al-Adhra'i 703/1303 Shafi'i Aleppo37. Al-Sharaf l-Dimyati 705/1306 Shafi'i Egypt38. Sad al-Din al-Harithi 710/1311 Hanbali Egypt39. al-Sharaf l-Baydawi 716/1317 Shafi'i Egypt Hdshiya40. Ibn Rashid l-Sibti 721/1322 Maliki Fez41. Ibn Taymiyya 729/1329 Hanbali Damascus al-Radd42. Kamal al-Din al-Maraghi c. Shafi'i Damascus

730/133043. Burhan l-Din al-Ja'bari 732/1332 Shafi'i44. Zaynal-Dinal-Subki 735/1335 Shafi'i Damascus45. Zaynal-Dinb. al-Murahhil . Shafi'i Damascus

738/133846. Ibn Kathir 744/1344 Shafi'i Damascus Tdrikh47. Taqi al-Din al-Subki50 744/1344 Shafi'i Damascus48. Abu Hayyan l-Ghamati 745/1344 Shafi'i Granada al-Nuddr49. Salahal-Dinal-Safadi 746/1345 Shafi'i Damascus Shark dmiyat

al-Ajam50. al-Udfuwwi 747/1347 Shafi'i Cairo Kitdb l-Faraid51. al-Dhahabi 748/1348 Shafi'i Damascus Siyar,Mujam and

Tdrikh52. Siraj l-Din al-Qazwini 750/1349 Hanafi Iraq al-Hatt,Nasihat

al-Muslim53. Sharaf l-Din al-Munawi 757/1357 Shafi'i Egypt54. 'Izzal-Dinb. Jama 767/1366 Shafi'i Egypt55. Taj al-Dinal-Subki51 771/1370 Shafi'i Damascus56. al-Asnawi 772/1371 Shafi'i Egypt Tabaqdt57. Badral-Dinal-Zarkashi 794/1392 Shafi'i Egypt58. Ibn al-Munayyar 803/1401 Shafi'i Alexandria

59. Wali al-Din al-'Iraqi 826/1423 Shafi'i Iraq60. Sharaf l-Din b. al-Muqri 837/1434 Shafi'i Yemen

50)Al-Suyuti lsorefers oal-Subki s an opponent f ogic.Whenhe was asked boutthe tudy f ogic, l-Suyuti eports, l-Subkiaid: Occupyingneself ith he Book, heSunna nd urisprudences of greater mportance han ccupying neself ith logic]."Seeal-Suyutis tatement n QM, 3: "wa-suilaanh l-shaykhaqi l-din l-subki a-qdlayanbaghinyuqaddamaaiddhdlika l-ishtighdl i%kitdb al-sunna al-fiqh..."51)According oal-Suyuti, aj al-Dinal-Subki tates hat he tudy f ogicmight eallowablen the ondition hat ne first astered he

eligiousciencesndthat ne had

reached reputation s zfaqihor mufti. or hosewith ess backgroundn the religioussciences,he tudy f ogicmust e declared rohibitedbaram). eeQM, 13;cf., oldziher,"Attitude,"07.







M.AH Islamic aw and Society5 (2008)250-267 265

No. Name Yearof Legal Residence Work(s) itedDeath Aff.

61. al-Malawi 841/1438 Egypt62. 'Mam al-Din al-Bulqini 868/1461 Shafi'i Egypt63. Taqi al-Din al-Shumunni 872/1468 Maliki Egypt64. Kamalal-Din al-Kamili 874/1470 Shafi'i Egypt65. 'Ala al-Din al-Makki ca.880/1476 Shafi'i Egypt66. Ibn al-Sadr l-Balbisi 904/1499 Shafi'i Egypt al-Tanbihdt67. Ibn Isam al-Asadi -

68. Abu 1-' bbasl-Tuwayni

This nformation an be summarized s follows: irst, lthoughmorethan half 37) of the scholarswho opposed logic lived between600/1200 and 799/1399, statistically elevant umber f scholarswho did not live n this period lso opposed ogic: eight n the 5thand 9th enturies; even n the 6th, hree n the 4th, woin the 3rd,and one in the 10th entury. econd, ogicwas opposed n regionsas far apart as Valencia,Fez,Aleppo, Iraq, and Mecca.The mostsignificant pposition ologicwas found n Egypt nd Syria.Third,most f those who opposed ogicwere hafi'is 43), althoughMalikis(14), Hanballs (4), and Hanafis 1) also opposed this discipline.Fourth,most f thewritten ources sedby l-Suyuti hendiscussingopposition o logic arefiqh books, their ommentaries nd super-commentaries nos. 11, 24, 29, 30, 32, 39, 51 and 66), and bio-graphical ictionaries nd works n history nos. 8, 18, 19, 22, 48,49, 51, and 56). But he also relies n works ealing pecifically ith

the refutation f ogic nos. 41 and 52), and on those dealingwithkaldm nd tasawwuf nos. 4, 14 and 20). Al-Suyutimentions woworks presumably o longer xtant, o. 52) which deal exclusivelywith opposition o logic.

Fifth, l-Suyuti ualifies ome scholars nos. 30, 32, 41, 47, 56)as mujtahids;52hree nos. 14, 19 and 35) as mujaddids renewersof the religion);53 our as Chief Judges qddi al-qudat) (nos. 54,

52)Sanzinjalal al-Din, 5.53)Al-SuyutI, l'Tahadduth, 218, 222.







266 M. AH/Islamic aw and Society5(2008)250-267

53, 62, 63);54one as aqdd al-quddt no. 44);55and one (no. 61)as a mystic. s for he rest, e and/or hebiographers efer o themas the most knowledgeable ersons f their ime n Tafsir, raditionand Jurisprudence no. 29),56the "seal of the Hdfizs" no. 51),57the greatest raditionalist n al-Andalus no. 16),58 he great Hdfizand traditionalist f Iraq (no. 52),59and the leading scholar ofYemen no. 60) 60Three members f the Subki family nos. 44,47, 55), regarded y Laoustas the most eminent epresentativesf

Syro-Egyptian hafi'ism,61re referred o

by al-Suyutln his discus-

sion against ogic in QM.Sixth, al-Suyuti also draws our attention to a number of

Andalusian ources gainst ogic (nos. 8, 22, 48). One, al-Nuddr,is valuable not only because of the biography f its author, l-Gharnati nd his opposition o logic, but also for the history fal-Andalus. his work, ccording o al-Suyutl, reats l-Gharnatisearly ife, his academicactivities, is teachers nd his flight romGranada. Finally, l-Suyutl learly efersmostly o Sunni scholars

of the Shafi'i chool of law, despite he fact hat some non-Sunnischolars pposed ogic.

Conclusion

In his 2004 article, l-Rouayheb aschallenged oldziher argumentthat pposition o ogicwas never redominant mongMuslim unnischolars.Based on his study of some discussions oncerning he

54)Al-Suyutl, ughya, 5-7;al-Suyuti, abaqdt l-Huffdz, d. AllMuhammadUmar(Cairo:MaktabatWahba, 973),531;QM, fol.12.55)Taj al-Dlnal-Subkl, abaqdt l-Shdfiiyya l-Kubrd, d. Abd al-Fattah uhammadal-Huluw nd MahmudMuhammad l-Tanahl, 0vols. Cairo: sa al-Babl l-Halabl,1976),X, 89.56)Al-Suyutl, abaqdt, 00.57)Al-Suyutl, abaqdt, 17.58)Brockelmann, AL, :368; l-Suyutl, abaqdt l-Mufassirin,d. Albertus eursinge

(Leyden: . & J. Luchtmans, 839),808-9.59)Al-Suyuti, abaqdt, 26.60)Al-Suyutl, ughya, 93-4.61)SeeEP, s.v. bn TaymiyyaH. Laoust).







M. AH Islamic aw and Society5 (2008)250-267 267

status f logic by Sunni scholars n the period between 1500 and1800, el-Rouayheb oncludes hat "hostility o logic was indeed aminority iew in scholarly ircles hroughout his period." Since"many f the cholars f this period egularly nvoked arlier uthori-ties in support of their position," l-Rouayheb ays, Goldziher'ssuggestion hathostility ologicwas a predominant eature f Sunnischolarship, specially etween he 13th nd 14th enturies, s nolonger defendable.

Thestudy

f fourworksomposed y l-Suyuti

hows hathostilityto logic did become a predominant eature f Sunni thinking,

especially uring he 13th, 4th, nd 15th enturies. his s based onthe fact that the authorities ho were referred o by al-Suyuti shaving eenopposedto logic re prominent nd influential cholars.A prosopographical tudy f the opponents f logic mentioned yal-Suyuti eveals hat ogic was condemned by Sunni scholars nregions s far apart as Valencia, Fez, Aleppo, Iraq, and Mecca.The most significant pposition o logic was found n Egypt nd

Syria.The result f this nvestigation onfirms oldziher's rgument hatthe resistance o logic started lready n the 2nd 8th entury ndincreased n the 13th nd 14th enturies.

resistance to logic by sunni muslim scholars

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