What is the difference between the legal reality and the linguistic reality?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh. What is the difference between the legal reality and the linguistic reality? Please provide details. When is one resorted to and when is the other? Which is the original? And in case of conflict, which is considered? May Allah preserve you.
The Shaykh : We will, if Allah wills, read a lesson on the principles of jurisprudence to explain this to the questioner, because if we answer this question, it means a full session. But there is no harm in me mentioning an example.
The sheep in language differs from the sheep in the Shari'ah. For example, a person says, "I have vowed to Allah to offer a sheep, to offer a sheep."
The sheep in language is not the sheep in the Shari'ah. What is it? Yes.
The sheep in custom, I mean.
The sheep in custom is not the sheep in the Shari'ah.
What is the sheep in custom?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Is the sheep in custom the female goat?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Or the male goat? Rest, the male goat, a male goat, there is no favor.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : How?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : I do not find... I know that the sheep in custom is the female of the sheep, is it not? The female of the sheep is a sheep in custom.
But in the Shari'ah, it includes the female of the sheep, the female goat, the male of the sheep, and the male goat. So if it is said that so-and-so owes a sheep for leaving one of the obligatory acts of Hajj, for example.
So what is the sheep? Any one of these? The male goat, the male sheep, the female goat, the female sheep.
So sometimes the custom is more specific than the Shari'ah, and sometimes the Shari'ah is more specific.
For example, faith. Faith in language is: affirmation. But in the Shari'ah, it is: affirmation that necessitates acceptance and submission. It is not mere affirmation, because mere affirmation is not faith. For Abu Talib, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), used to affirm that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and defend him, and he said in his famous poem:
"Indeed, they know that our son is not a denier ** with us, nor does he care for the words of falsehood"
And yet he is not a believer. The legal faith saves him from the Fire. What is zakah in language? Growth and increase. But in the Shari'ah, it is an obligatory right in specific wealth.
So the important thing is that realities differ in the Shari'ah, custom, and language.
The sky. The sky, all realities agree on it. The sky is above, legally, customarily, and linguistically.
And the brother, if Allah wills, we encourage him to study under a scholar of the principles of jurisprudence so that he explains the matter to him in a faithful manner.
The Shaykh : We will, if Allah wills, read a lesson on the principles of jurisprudence to explain this to the questioner, because if we answer this question, it means a full session. But there is no harm in me mentioning an example.
The sheep in language differs from the sheep in the Shari'ah. For example, a person says, "I have vowed to Allah to offer a sheep, to offer a sheep."
The sheep in language is not the sheep in the Shari'ah. What is it? Yes.
The sheep in custom, I mean.
The sheep in custom is not the sheep in the Shari'ah.
What is the sheep in custom?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Is the sheep in custom the female goat?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Or the male goat? Rest, the male goat, a male goat, there is no favor.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : How?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : I do not find... I know that the sheep in custom is the female of the sheep, is it not? The female of the sheep is a sheep in custom.
But in the Shari'ah, it includes the female of the sheep, the female goat, the male of the sheep, and the male goat. So if it is said that so-and-so owes a sheep for leaving one of the obligatory acts of Hajj, for example.
So what is the sheep? Any one of these? The male goat, the male sheep, the female goat, the female sheep.
So sometimes the custom is more specific than the Shari'ah, and sometimes the Shari'ah is more specific.
For example, faith. Faith in language is: affirmation. But in the Shari'ah, it is: affirmation that necessitates acceptance and submission. It is not mere affirmation, because mere affirmation is not faith. For Abu Talib, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), used to affirm that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and defend him, and he said in his famous poem:
"Indeed, they know that our son is not a denier ** with us, nor does he care for the words of falsehood"
And yet he is not a believer. The legal faith saves him from the Fire. What is zakah in language? Growth and increase. But in the Shari'ah, it is an obligatory right in specific wealth.
So the important thing is that realities differ in the Shari'ah, custom, and language.
The sky. The sky, all realities agree on it. The sky is above, legally, customarily, and linguistically.
And the brother, if Allah wills, we encourage him to study under a scholar of the principles of jurisprudence so that he explains the matter to him in a faithful manner.