Allah has created the human race with speech as part of its essential nature, and made the human tongue a tool by which to speak. Yet in spite of this, the human being needs something to erect his speech and make it sound; something that will allow his words to conform to the language which he knows, to the forms of its vocal expressions, and its bases. As such, the human being will initially need a guide which will habituate him to the norms of language, and secondly, he will be in need of a canon of principles which will immunize his tongue from error. This is the knowledge of grammar and morphology.

In a similar fashion, Allah has created the human race with thinking as part of its essential nature, and he has bestowed upon humankind the faculty of rational thinking. Yet in spite of this, we find that people commit a great number of mistakes in their thinking. They believe that things are causes which are not causes, and believe things are conclusions which are not conclusions. People believe that something is a proof which is not a proof. They believe in something false, or may even believe in something true but based on false premises. As such, a human being is always in need of something to correct his thoughts and guide him to the path of sound derivation. It has been mentioned by many that the science of logic is a tool by which the human being may immunize himself from errors, and which will give human beings a means for correcting their thoughts. Just as grammar and morphology do not teach human beings how to speak per se, but rather teach him how to speak correctly, so logic does not teach the human being how to think; rather, it gives human beings a means for correcting their thoughts As such, our need for logic is only for the sake of correcting our thought. And this is, indeed, a momentous need!

If you would say: Human beings study logic, yet they still make mistakes. As such, there is no benefit in logic. We would say to you: People study logic and morphology, and yet still make mistakes in speech. The only reason for this is that the student studying such a science has not become sufficiently proficient in that science. and has not taken heed of its principles when they are needed. This, or such a person makes an error in his application of logic, and fails to be correct.

A Definition of the Science of Logic:

Because of this, logic is defined as: “A canonical tool. If one takes heed of this tool, he will have his mind immunized from error.” Examine the word “takes heed”, and understand the secret in it, just as we have already described: it is not that every person who studies logic is immunized from error in his thought, just as everyone who studies grammar and morphology is not immunized from error on his tongue. Rather, one must take heed of and observe the principles and its when needed. By this, a person will immunize his mind and tongue [from error].

The Tool of Logic

Now look at the word “tool” in this definition, and reflect upon its meaning. You know that logic is a division of the practical sciences, which is used to obtain a certain purpose. It is not the same as epistemology; its only task is to clarify the general paths which will allow us (by means of our thoughts) to grasp realities which were previously unknown. Similar is the case to algebra, which studies the paths by which a mathematician may unravel equations and grasp previously unknown quantities.

A more clear explanation would be: the science of logic teaches you the general principles for correct thinking, so that your mind will think correctly in all sounds. It will teach you in every shape, and organize your thinking in such a way that it will lead from images present in your mind to things which are hidden from you. As such, this science is defined as a scale or measure, as well as the custodian of sciences (even algebra, to which we will compare this knowledge, insofar as algebra bases its method of analyzing its problems and propositions on logic).