The author starts the book with the basmala and praise of Allah in accordance to the Sunnah of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and following the Qur'an in how it starts. There are narrations of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, saying, "every matter of importance that does not start with praise of Allah is cut off." There are many narrations with various wordings, but the majority of these narrations are weak. However, the number of narrations strengthen the Hadith in meaning, making it a hasan narration.

Praise is technically defined as: description by beautiful attributes of a beautiful voluntary act by way of exaltation.

In this introduction, the author weaves in the technical terminology of the science of logic, using those terms in a non-technical way. This is a rhetorical device called bara'at ul-istihlal and is considered to be an eloquent and desirable quality to have in the introduction of a technical book in a science such as fiqh, kalam, mantiq, and the likes.

In this line, he uses the word conclusion which is a technical term in the chapter of syllogisms, defined as as proposition that is necessitated by two ordered premises. An example of the two premises would be "the universe changes" and "anything that changes is created". The conclusion yielded from the two premises would be "[therefore], the universe is created."

The author is formulating an analogy where he likens the intellect to a sky and knowledge and ignorance to be objects in the intellect. In the analogy, a conclusion is something that the onlooker is searching for in the sky and Allah makes it manifest and apparent to the viewer. This is also a reminder to the reader that although mantiq is a rational science, the action of doing logic reasoning is still an act created by Allah for the human being and the conclusions yielded by that act of reflection are also created by Allah. In other words, the human being is utterly reliant and dependent on Allah even in terms of their intellect and what the intellect produces.

The author likens ignorance to be like a cloud, apprehending the viewer from perceiving the "suns of knowing" with clarity. As he describes in the next line, knowledge is like the light of the sun. This light can be blocked off with the clouds of ignorance.

Ignorance: is conceptualization of something in opposition to how it is in reality.

The author praises Allah for His removing of ignorance from the minds of people, since if Allah willed, He could have left people in the darkness of ignorance.

The author uses the word "مُخَــدَّرَاتِـهَا" which is an elusive matter that is difficult to grasp. In Arabic, a khidr is a veil or curtain that a bride sits behind, concealed from everyone else. The author also uses the plural form of "sun", i.e., "suns" to highlight the greatness and importance of knowledge and truth.

The author then praises Allah again, but with a different formulation. In the first line, he praised Allah with a noun, i.e., "All praise is due to Allah," while here, he praises Him with a verb, "We praise Him..." This is due to the rhetorical utility of nouns and verbs in language. A noun is static and unchanging, so giving praise using a nominal sentence indicates praise in perpetuity and permanence. A verb indicates action and occurrence, so giving praise with a verbal sentence indicates praise that is constantly renewed.

In the first line, he praises Allah without giving a reason for what elicited the author to praise Him. In this line, he praises Allah for the blessing of belief and Islam (submission). The scholars differed in whether it is better to praise Allah without giving a reason or if it better to praise Allah for a reason. By praising Allah in both, the author shows his scrupulousness and sincerity.

Belief (Iman) is defined technically as affirmation of the heart of what is known that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, came with. It is also differed whether verbal affirmation (the testimony of faith) is needed in order for one to be upon belief.

Islam is defined as the outward action of obedience and submissions to the Divine Law conveyed by the Noble Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.

The author transitions to mentioning the source of belief and Islam, which is Allah honoring and distinguishing us with the greatest of creations, the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him. He describes the Prophet as the greatest of those who were sent, i.e., the greatest of the Messengers.

He says that the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, gathered all of the stations in loftiness. In other words, all goodness- both the principles of goodness and the effects of those principles- are found in total perfection in the character and essence of the Beloved Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.

One of the titles of the Prophet is that he is "The Leader of the Messengers". He is the leader of all of the Prophets and Messengers, both in this life and the hereafter on the Day of Judgment and Paradise. A "مُقتَفَى" is a leader, or someone who is followed. By stating that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is the leader of all leaders, it is known a fortiori that he is also the leader of all of the followers of the leaders.

Then, the author describes the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as the Chosen One, in reference to the Hadith where he said,

"Indeed Allah selected Kinana from the children of Ismail. He selected Quraysh from Kinana. He selected from Quraysh the clan of Hashim. And He selected me from the clan of Hashim. So, I am the select of the select of the select."

The author then composes blessings (salawat) upon the Noble Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him. Salawat is a word that has no equivalent in English. Its meaning depends on who is giving the salawat. When the salah is from Allah, it is mercy. When it is from the Angels, it is istighfar which is a plea to increase someone's rank. When it is from humans, it is a prayer.

The author attaches his request to a condition: as long as the intellect dives into the turbulent oceans of meanings. Since the intellect will never stop contemplating, it is an eloquent way for the author to tie his request to a never-ending condition. In other words, he is making a plea to Allah to send blessings and peace upon the Prophet forever without pause.

Then, the author includes the family and companions of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in his request. He likens them to stars in the sky in terms of their guidance for those who come after them. This is in reference to a report attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "my companions are like the stars. Whichever you follow, you shall be guided." While the meaning of the report is true, the scholars of Hadith mention that all of the report's chains of narrations are extremely weak, if not fabricated. However, the general meaning of the report is true.

In other words, the author named the didactic poem, "The Gilded Ladder" as a guide for the beginner to reach the distant topics of logic. The author is drawing an analogy between physical distance in the sky with the mental distance of a difficult concept.

Then, the other prays to Allah that his writing this text is sincere for His reward, and does not lack any deficiency, either in its content or baraka. In Arabic, the word wajh has multiple meanings, such as "face"، but here, it refers His Essence, which is one way that the word wajh is used in the Qur'an. (See Tafsir Al-Razi on Surah Al-An'am, 52).

It is also used to mean His reward, i.e., "I hope that it is sincere, only for Allah's Generous Reward."

In other words, the author prays that the text is beneficial for the beginner to use in order to be capable of understanding the lengthier texts of mantiq and advancing in his study of logic.

The author indicates that the text is meant for beginners. A beginner, intermediate, and advanced student are defined in the following way:

Beginner: is incapable of conceptualizing the topics of discussion for the science.

Intermediate: is capable of conceptualizing the topics of discussion for the science without the ability to offer proofs or reasoning.

Advanced: is capable of conceptualizing the topics of discussion for the science with the ability to offer proofs and reasoning.

Imam Al-Damanhuri mentions in his commentary that he heard from his teachers that Imam Al-Akhdari was from one of the great saints of Tasawwuf and that he was an individual whose prayers were accepted (mujab ul da'wa). He comments that he personally witnessed that one who reads this text and understands it is indeed guided towards mastery of the advanced topics and texts of this science.

Imam Al-Akhdari mentions that there is a difference of opinion in delving into the science of logic. This is because as it is impermissible to do an action until they know its ruling. As Imam Al-Akhdari says in his primer in Fiqh:

وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَهُ أَنْ يَفْعَلَ فِعْلًا حَتَّى يَعْلَمَ حُكْمَ اللَّهِ فِيهِ وَيَسْأَلَ الْعُلَمَاءَ

"It is not permitted for [the legally responsible person] to do something until he knows Allah's ruling on it and he asks the scholars.

For this reason, he gives the three opinions on logic that are found among the scholars.

He starts with the ruling oF Ibn Al-Salah and Imam Al-Nawawi who forbade its study on the grounds that it is a doorway to the study of peripatetic philosophy which they forbade. Ibn Al-Salah in his Fatawa says:

As for logic, it is a gateway to [peripatetic] philosophy, and the gateway of evil is evil. (pg. 71)

Imam Al-Damanhuri explains that this fatwa only applies to the books of logic that have been interspersed with the terminologies and the discussions about peripatetic philosophy, such as the books of Ibn Sina. As for the books of logic such as Al-Sullam, Al-Shamsiyya, or Mukhtasar Al-Sanusi, he states that there is no difference of opinion that these books are permitted to read and study.

The second opinion that he mentions is that of Imam Al-Ghazali and others, who stated that studying logic is praiseworthy due to its benefits in protecting the individual from falling into error and mistakes in their reasoning.

The third opinion says that it is permitted for one group and forbidden for another:

• If the individual is of sound mind and grounded in the Qur'an and Sunnah, then it is permitted to study.
• If the individual is not of sound mind or not grounded in the Qur'an and Sunnah, then it is forbidden for him to study.

This is the strongest and most prominent opinion taken by the majority of scholars.

The author begins discussion on the various types of created knowledge. He says "Created Knowledge" and not simply "Knowledge" in order to exclude the knowledge of Allah from the forthcoming categorizations. This is because the knowledge of Allah is not divided into parts or whole, concepts and propositions, or reflective and self-evident knowledge. These attributes and divisions are only applicable to the knowledge of creations.

The author uses the word haadith, which literally translates to "originated" or having a beginning. Its definition is something that previously did not exist. Its opposite would be qadim which is defined as something that was not preceded by non-existence.

Created knowledge is divided into two types: conceptualizations (tasawwur, plural tasawwurat) and propositions (tasdiq, plural tasdiqat). Propositions are also referred to as judgments.

Conceptualizations are the basic building blocks of knowledge. The grasping of a singular concept is considered a conceptualization.

What is meant by a singular concept? This refers to any idea where there is no other concept being affirmed to it or negating it. For example, when I say "cat", this is a singular concept. It is the idea of an animal that purrs. However, if I say, "cats are carnivores", I am attaching the idea of being a carnivore, which means a meat-eater, to the concept of a cat. That would be considered a proposition, not a conceptualization.

A proposition is grasping the occurrence of a relationship between two concepts. For example, in the previous example, the proposition is grasping the concept of a cat being a carnivore.

More information regarding concepts and propositions will be found in their respective chapters.

The Imam means that the first one, i.e., conceptualizations, are prioritized in wad' (وضع) over propositions. What is wad'? It means placement. It is referring to the way one writes, teaches, learns, explains, etc. In other words, when one writes a book in logic, or a book in general, they first explain the conceptualizations relevant to the subject and then after that, they mention the propositions relevant to that subject. The same goes for when we teach, speak, and anything else.

For example, if you were to write a book on physics and were in the chapter related to the various forces, first you would explain what is a force. You might also explain the various types of forces, such as gravity or friction. You would also explain other important terms, such as mass or acceleration. After that, you would put these concepts together and mention their relationships, such as how force is equal to the product of an object's mass and acceleration.

This is based on a reason: "due to coming first naturally". In other words, naturally, conceptualizations come before propositions. As mentioned in the previous line's explanation, a proposition is the grasping of the occurrence of a relationship between two concepts. How could one grasp the occurrence of that relationship if they do not understand the two concepts first? It would be unintelligible. For this reason, the the books of logic first begin with a chapter on conceptualizations, followed by a chapter on propositions.

Knowledge is also divided into two types: self-evident knowledge, and contemplative knowledge.

Self-evident knowledge is knowledge that does not rely on contemplation and inquiry to acquire.

Contemplative knowledge is knowledge that does require on contemplation and inquiry to acquire.

Knowledge that is contemplative must have proof. Eventually, that proof will be the combination of some self-evident knowledge. The Imam will discuss the various types of self-evident knowledge in the line:

مِـن أَوَّلِيَّـاتٍ, مُشَاهَـدَاتِ *** مُجَــرَّبَـاتٍ, مُتَــوَاتِـرَاتِ

"That are self-evident premises, internally experienced premises, nomic premises, mass-transmitted premises."

The main point is that conceptualizations and propositions can both be either self-evident or contemplative. If they are contemplative knowledge, then they are not obvious and may require a way to grasp them. These ways are discussed below.

The first draft of this translation was completed by the lowly slave of Allah in need of His mercy, Uthman Qureshi, on the seventh of Jumada Al-Awwal, 1446 A.H. May Allah send blessings and peace upon His Noble Messenger, and His family, companions, and all those that followed him in belief and righteousness.