Logic and Islamic Philosophy (Mantiq)
Mantiq is studied in the Al-Azhar curriculum as an instrument for correct reasoning, and philosophy as its historical counterpart, including the critique of the philosophers by al-Ghazali. Questions test definitions, the structure of definition and syllogism, and the positions of the major figures.
Core rules and concepts
- Two kinds of knowledge: tasawwur (conception, grasping a meaning) and tasdiq (assent, affirming a judgement). Definition (hadd) produces tasawwur; argument (hujjah) produces tasdiq.
- The five universals (al-kulliyyat al-khams): jins, naw', fasl, khassah, 'arad 'amm. A complete definition uses the jins plus the fasl, as in 'man is a rational animal'.
- Propositions: hamliyyah (subject-predicate) and shartiyyah (conditional), with quantity universal, particular, indefinite, singular. Contradiction ('aks al-naqid) requires unity of subject, predicate, time, place and relation.
- Syllogism (qiyas): iqtirani (categorical) and istithna'i (exceptive). In the first figure the middle term is the predicate of the minor premise and the subject of the major, and the conclusion follows in the mood Barbara: all M is P, all S is M, therefore all S is P.
- The five arts: burhan (demonstration), jadal (dialectic), khitabah (rhetoric), shi'r (poetry), safsatah (sophistry).
- Figures: al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd; al-Ghazali's Tahafut al-Falasifah and Ibn Rushd's Tahafut al-Tahafut.
Worked example
Take: 'The world is originated; every originated thing has an originator; therefore the world has an originator.' The hadd asghar is 'the world', the hadd akbar is 'an originator', and the hadd awsat is 'originated thing'. The middle term is the predicate of the minor premise and the subject of the major, so the syllogism is valid first-figure form. Validity concerns the form only; the truth of the premises is a separate question, which is precisely where the philosophers and the theologians divide.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing validity of form with truth of content.
- Placing the middle term in the wrong position and still declaring the syllogism productive.
- Treating al-Ghazali's Tahafut as a rejection of logic; he rejected the philosophers' metaphysics, not the instrument.
- Mixing the five universals with the five arts.
General Secondary Subjects (Mathematics, Sciences, Languages, Social Studies)
The general subjects portion of the Thanaweya certificate carries its own weight alongside the religious sciences, and the questions are standard curriculum items: calculation, definition, comprehension and map or timeline reasoning. The marks here are typically earned by showing working and by using the exact term the syllabus requires.
Core rules and concepts
- Mathematics: limits and continuity, differentiation (product, quotient, chain rule), applications to maxima and minima, integration as the reverse of differentiation, and sequences. Show the substitution or the rule applied at each line.
- Physics: Newton's three laws, equations of uniformly accelerated motion, Ohm's law and series/parallel resistance, work, energy and power.
- Chemistry: the mole concept, molar mass, molarity and dilution, balancing equations, and acid-base neutralisation.
- Biology: photosynthesis and respiration, cell division (mitosis and meiosis), genetics with Mendelian ratios, and the structure of the cell.
- Languages: English comprehension and translation, conditional sentences, reported speech, passive voice; the second foreign language follows the same pattern.
- Social studies: the geography of Egypt and the Nile, population and resources, and twentieth-century Egyptian and world history, including 1952 and the 1973 war.
Worked example
Question: 8 g of sodium hydroxide (molar mass 40 g/mol) is dissolved to make 500 mL of solution; find the molarity. Step one: moles equals mass divided by molar mass, so 8 divided by 40 equals 0.2 mol. Step two: convert volume to litres, 500 mL equals 0.5 L. Step three: molarity equals moles divided by volume in litres, 0.2 divided by 0.5 equals 0.4 mol/L. Each step is a mark; writing only 0.4 M loses the method marks.
Traps that cost marks
- Leaving volume in millilitres in the molarity calculation.
- Applying the chain rule but omitting the derivative of the inner function.
- Mixing the products of mitosis with those of meiosis in cell-division questions.
- Confusing the dates of 1952 and 1973 in social studies items, or the roles of the Nile branches in the geography section.