Analytical Study of the Influence of Stoic Logic on Islamic Kalam Scholarship in Northern Nigeria

The intellectual relationship between Stoic logic and Islamic theological reasoning (kalam) is a well-documented feature of classical Islamic philosophy, but its specific manifestation in the Northern Nigerian Islamic scholarly tradition, transmitted through West African Arabic learning networks, has not been analysed in English-language Classical Studies scholarship. This study analytically examines the influence of Stoic logical concepts on kalam scholarship in Northern Nigeria, focusing on the traditions of Sokoto, Kano, and Borno. A historical-analytical methodology was adopted, examining Arabic-language kalam texts produced in Northern Nigeria from the nineteenth century to the present, alongside analysis of the transmission of Greek logic through Arabic scholarship (particularly through Al-Farabi and Avicenna). Interviews with twenty Islamic scholars at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto and Bayero University Kano with specialist knowledge of the kalam tradition provided scholarly context. Findings reveal that Stoic syllogistic reasoning, transmitted through Arabic logic textbooks widely used in Nigerian Islamic education, is embedded in the logical argumentation structures of kalam texts, though unattributed and mediated through Islamic philosophical frameworks. The modal logic of the Stoics, relating to possibility, necessity, and existence, is identifiable in Northern Nigerian theological debates about divine attributes and human free will. The study makes an original analytical contribution to both Classical Studies and the history of Islamic philosophy in West Africa.

Keywords: Stoic logic, Islamic kalam, Northern Nigeria, classical reception, comparative philosophy