al-Jumal fi al-Mantiq
- Author died
- 646 AH
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- al-Jumal fi al-Mantiq
al-Jumal fi al-Mantiq (The Sentences on Logic, also known as al-Jumal fi dabt qawa'id al-mantiq) is an epitome of logic by the Shafi'i jurist, physician, and logician Afdal al-Din al-Khunji (590–646 AH / 1194–1248 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Khunji states in the prologue that he composed this concise summary to set down the fundamental rules and precepts of logic for a circle of senior scholars and distinguished colleagues among his religious brethren . The text represents the most condensed of al-Khunji's primary logical treatises, spanning roughly four folios .
In his biographical catalog, Haji Khalifa recorded a description claiming that the work was an abridgment by al-Khunji of a treatise titled Nihayat al-Amal by Ibn Marzuq; however, this is chronologically discordant, as Ibn Marzuq lived more than a century after al-Khunji and wrote a commentary on al-Khunji's text rather than its source .
Contents
The treatise outlines the core principles of Aristotelian-Avicennan logic in an extremely dense, formulaic prose style:
- Semantics and Signification (Dalat al-Alfaz): Linguistic signification is categorized into correspondence (mutabaqa), inclusion (tadammun), and mental implication (iltizam) . It treats single and compound expressions, proper names, univocal and equivocal terms, nouns, verbs, particles, synonyms, and homonyms .
- Universals and Predicables: The text examines universal (kulli) and particular (juz'i) terms, real versus relative particulars, and the five predicables—genus (jins), species (naw'), specific difference (fasl), property (khassa), and common accident ('arad 'amm)—as well as the hierarchical divisions of genera .
- Propositions and Modalities: It details categorical propositions (hamliyya), quantified propositions (mahsurat), explicit quantifiers (aswar), and modal propositions (al-jihat wa-al-mawadd), including necessary, perpetual, contingent, and actual propositions .
- Logical Relations: It addresses rules of contradiction (tanaqud) for simple and compound propositions, as well as simple conversion ('aks mustawin) and contraposition ('aks al-naqid) .
- Syllogisms (al-Qiyas) and Proof: The work outlines conjunctive (iqtirani) and conditional/disjunctive (istithna'i) syllogisms, the four syllogistic figures (al-ashkal al-arba'a), rules governing modal syllogistic combinations (ikhtilatat), connective (muttasila) and disjunctive (munfasila) conditionals, and deductive proof (burhan) .
Reception and Commentaries
The historian Ibn Khaldun remarked that eastern scholars of his era relied primarily on the works of al-Khunji in logic, noting that al-Jumal gathered the essentials and principles of the discipline into roughly four folios, becoming so widely circulated and beneficial to students that the longer treatises and methods of earlier scholars were largely set aside . The text also became deeply entrenched in North African scholarly circles—especially in Bejaia, Tlemcen, and Constantine—where generations of jurists and theologians studied and expounded it .
Numerous scholars authored commentaries (shuruh) and versifications on al-Jumal, including:
- Ibn Wasil (d. 697 AH), who authored Sharh ma istaghlaqa min alfaz kitab al-Jumal fi al-mantiq .
- Al-Sharif al-Tilimsani (d. 771 AH) .
- Ibn Qunfudh al-Qusantini (d. 810 AH) .
- Sa'id al-Uqbani (d. 811 AH) .
- Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Marzuq al-Hafid, who titled his commentary Nihayat al-Amal fi sharh al-Jumal and also authored a verse rendition (urjuza) of the text .
- Muhammad ibn al-Abbas al-Tilimsani (d. 871 AH) .
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi (d. 895 AH) .
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Maghili .
- Ibn al-Astar al-Tadrumi al-Tilimsani, who wrote a mixed commentary entitled Kifayat al-Amal .
- Ibn Hululu .
In modern scholarship, the text was edited and published by Saad Ghrab in Tunis .
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