(The Response to Those Who Divert a Word from Its Apparent Meaning: Four Matters Are Required of Them, and the First Matter Is Mentioned, Which Is the Evidence That Diverts It) And upon you in this are four duties***And Allah, you have no hands in them
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The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
This chapter is a very great chapter, and that is because everyone who claims ta'wil (figurative interpretation), which is diverting the word from its apparent meaning to a weaker meaning, must bring four matters. Pay attention to them. The first matter: He said:
"And upon you in this are four duties***And Allah, you have no hands in them"
"Hands" means capability. Among them: meaning, and this is the first one.
"Evidence that diverts the word from***its original subject matter by proof"
Meaning, the one who claims ta'wil (figurative interpretation) must bring evidence that diverts from the original meaning. You know, he must bring evidence. This evidence is either from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, or clear reason. If he brings evidence that diverts, he must [bring] something else. He said: If he says, "This is what we demanded of you: the evidence that diverts the word from its apparent meaning," and we said to him, "Bring the evidence that it is diverted from its apparent meaning," if he turns it back on us and says, "You are the ones who bring evidence, so how do we answer him?" The author said in response to him:
"For the one who claims the truth itself is a claimant***of the original, so he does not need proof"
We say: We did not divert it from its apparent meaning, so why do you demand evidence from us?
This chapter is a very great chapter, and that is because everyone who claims ta'wil (figurative interpretation), which is diverting the word from its apparent meaning to a weaker meaning, must bring four matters. Pay attention to them. The first matter: He said:
"And upon you in this are four duties***And Allah, you have no hands in them"
"Hands" means capability. Among them: meaning, and this is the first one.
"Evidence that diverts the word from***its original subject matter by proof"
Meaning, the one who claims ta'wil (figurative interpretation) must bring evidence that diverts from the original meaning. You know, he must bring evidence. This evidence is either from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, or clear reason. If he brings evidence that diverts, he must [bring] something else. He said: If he says, "This is what we demanded of you: the evidence that diverts the word from its apparent meaning," and we said to him, "Bring the evidence that it is diverted from its apparent meaning," if he turns it back on us and says, "You are the ones who bring evidence, so how do we answer him?" The author said in response to him:
"For the one who claims the truth itself is a claimant***of the original, so he does not need proof"
We say: We did not divert it from its apparent meaning, so why do you demand evidence from us?