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Book Synopsis:
The Development of Arabic Logic (1200–1800) by Khaled El-Rouayheb is a groundbreaking study that challenges long-standing assumptions about the intellectual history of the Islamic world. Contrary to the view that Arabic philosophy and logic declined after the classical period, El-Rouayheb demonstrates that logical inquiry not only continued but flourished between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries.
Focusing on the post-classical period of Islamic scholarship, the book traces how Aristotelian logic was preserved, expanded, and creatively reworked by Muslim scholars across regions such as the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Iran, and Mughal South Asia. El-Rouayheb shows that logic remained a central discipline in madrasah education and played a crucial role in theology (kalām), jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh), and philosophical reasoning.
The study examines key developments in syllogistic theory, modal logic, propositional logic, and epistemology, highlighting how later scholars refined logical concepts inherited from Avicenna and earlier thinkers. Figures such as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, al-Taftāzānī, al-Jurjānī, and their successors are analyzed in detail, revealing a vibrant tradition of commentary, super-commentary, and independent innovation.
One of the book’s major contributions is its careful engagement with original Arabic manuscripts and texts that have often been overlooked in modern scholarship. El-Rouayheb combines philological expertise with philosophical analysis to reconstruct debates about definition, inference, certainty, and mental existence. These discussions show how Arabic logicians addressed problems that parallel concerns in later European logic, thereby reshaping our understanding of global intellectual history.
Accessible yet deeply scholarly, The Development of Arabic Logic (1200–1800) is written for advanced students and researchers in Islamic studies, philosophy, and the history of science. El-Rouayheb presents complex arguments with clarity, making the book valuable not only to specialists but also to readers seeking a serious introduction to post-classical Islamic thought.
This work is essential for anyone interested in the continuity of rational disciplines in Islam, the relationship between logic and theology, and the broader question of how knowledge traditions evolve over time. By recovering a neglected chapter of intellectual history, El-Rouayheb firmly establishes Arabic logic as a living and dynamic tradition well into the early modern period.
