Jahd al-Qariha fi Tajrid al-Nasiha
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Majmaʿ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmiyyah
Jahd al-Qariha fi Tajrid al-Nasiha (The Exertion of the Mind in Divesting the Counsel) is a treatise by the Egyptian scholar al-Jalal al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE) that abridges Ibn Taymiyya's extensive critique of Aristotelian logic, Nasihat Ahl al-Iman fi al-Radd 'ala Mantiq al-Yunan .
Background and Composition
Al-Suyuti composed the work after encountering critics who argued that mastering formal logic was a mandatory prerequisite for attaining the rank of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) . In response, he sought out Ibn Taymiyya's writings against logic, locating his major treatise Nasihat Ahl al-Iman fi al-Radd 'ala Mantiq al-Yunan (Advice to the People of Faith on Refuting the Logic of the Greeks), which spanned twenty quires (kurrasa) . Al-Suyuti noted that Ibn Taymiyya had also written a smaller treatise on the subject that he was unable to obtain .
Aiming to make Ibn Taymiyya's exhaustive deconstruction of logical rules accessible and concise for students and scholars, al-Suyuti summarized the massive work into a few quires, reducing it to approximately one-third of its original volume .
Content and Method
In condensing the text, al-Suyuti systematically omitted Ibn Taymiyya's extended theological and metaphysical digressions (istitradat), distilling the core arguments focused strictly on logic . The resulting work preserves the central criticisms leveled against the foundational pillars of Aristotelian logic:
- Definition (al-hadd) and Conceptualization (al-tasawwur): Refuting the logicians' assertion that concepts cannot be known except through formal definition, and demonstrating that definitions do not impart new knowledge of essence .
- Syllogism (al-qiyas) and Demonstration (al-burhan): Challenging the claim that no truth or assent (al-tasdiq) can be acquired without syllogistic demonstration, arguing that formal syllogisms merely exhaust the intellect without producing knowledge of concrete external realities that cannot be known without them .
The treatise presents both negative critiques of Greek logic and positive formulations of alternative epistemic methods rooted in Islamic thought .
Independence and Transmission
Although al-Suyuti incorporated references to his summary in the introduction to his own critical work, Sawn al-Mantiq wa-l-Kalam 'an Fannay al-Mantiq wa-l-Kalam, Jahd al-Qariha is an entirely autonomous text . It opens with its own independent basmala, praise of God, and authorial preface . Bibliographers like Katip Celebi in Kashf al-Zunun recorded it as a separate epitome, and standalone manuscript copies exist, including one in the Warner collection (MS 474) at Leiden University Library .
Modern Editions
The work was edited in modern times by Ali Sami al-Nashshar and Su'ad Ali Abd al-Raziq, originally published in one volume alongside al-Suyuti's Sawn al-Mantiq wa-l-Kalam by the Academy of Islamic Research (Majma' al-Buhuth al-Islamiyya) in Cairo, and subsequently printed in a standalone edition with an introduction by Abd al-Halim Mahmud .
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