The Meaning of the Poet's Statement: "If We Are Incapable of It, We Find It So That We Do Not Give It a Thought, Intending Thereby to Achieve Excellence" (and the Pronunciation of the Word "alaffaynahu")
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh :
"If we are incapable of it, we find it so that we do not give it a thought"
This means we find something that we do not give a thought to and do not care about. This is in the version "alaffaynahu" (we find it). In another version, it is "alqaynahu" (we cast it away), meaning we left it and threw it aside.
"We do not give it a thought" means we do not care about it, intending thereby to achieve excellence (ihsan). That is, we aim by this to achieve excellence in reconciling the rational (ma'qul) with the transmitted (manqul). They say: we affirm what the rational indicates, and we distort or, in their terminology, interpret figuratively (ta'wil) whatever of the transmitted contradicts it, so that it agrees with what? The rational. By doing so, we have done well and reconciled the rational and transmitted evidence. Is that clear, everyone? Yes.
"If we are incapable of it, we find it so that we do not give it a thought"
This means we find something that we do not give a thought to and do not care about. This is in the version "alaffaynahu" (we find it). In another version, it is "alqaynahu" (we cast it away), meaning we left it and threw it aside.
"We do not give it a thought" means we do not care about it, intending thereby to achieve excellence (ihsan). That is, we aim by this to achieve excellence in reconciling the rational (ma'qul) with the transmitted (manqul). They say: we affirm what the rational indicates, and we distort or, in their terminology, interpret figuratively (ta'wil) whatever of the transmitted contradicts it, so that it agrees with what? The rational. By doing so, we have done well and reconciled the rational and transmitted evidence. Is that clear, everyone? Yes.