(Clarifying a doubt: the word "Allah" and the disagreement among scholars regarding it—whether it is an Arabic word or Syriac, or a root word or a derived word, or an improvised word or a coined word) and
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh :"And among the calamities" And by Allah, among the calamities is correct.
"And among the calamities is the statement of one of them that *** Allah made the word clear in a tongue
And their disagreement regarding it is much and apparent *** " to the end of it.
Allah means the word Allah. He says this is the clearest word in the Qur'an. The clearest word in the Qur'an that indicates its meaning is the word Allah. No? Why are you standing there?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, Allah—everyone knows what is meant by it. What is meant by it is the Lord of the worlds. So they argue against us, saying: The clearest word is Allah, and yet there is disagreement regarding it. If the clearest word in the Qur'an, which is Allah, has disagreement regarding it, what about the other words that do not match it in clarity? Their purpose with this is to make people doubt the indication of the entire Qur'an. We ask Allah for safety. He says:
"And among the calamities is the statement of one of them that *** Allah"
Allah, and what is meant by that? The word Allah, meaning the word Allah is the clearest word in a tongue
"And their disagreement regarding it is much and apparent *** "
Meaning that people differ regarding the word Allah. How is the disagreement?
"*** Is it Arabic and that was placed, or is it Syriac?"
Meaning: Is Allah Arabic or Syriac? Meaning, is this word Arabic or Syriac in the Syriac language, the language of the Gospel?
"And likewise their disagreement: is it derived, as they see *** Or is it a root word? Two famous opinions exist"
So we have a disagreement. First: Is it Arabic or Syriac? Second: If we say it is Arabic, is it derived or a root word? Even though the word Allah is the clearest word in the Qur'an, and yet the disagreement regarding it exists, what about what is less clear? The disagreement regarding it is even more so. What is the result after this? That the meanings of the words of the Qur'an are not known and not certain, because the disagreement regarding them is much. Look, it is speech that makes one doubt. Speech that makes one doubt. If a person comes to us who is a demon in debate and stands up to speak with such speech, you say, "By Allah, it is correct. The word Allah, which is the clearest thing in the Qur'an, people differ regarding it: Is it Arabic or Syriac? Then if it is Arabic: Is it derived or a root word? So the other words are even more so. Thus the entire Qur'an remains not reliable regarding its indication. We ask Allah for safety. It means, may Allah protect us from such a crime, if the Qur'an is not reliable regarding its indication, then the hadiths are even more so, because the hadith has another defect, which is that perhaps the narrators transmitted it by meaning and made a mistake, unlike the Qur'an, which is mass-transmitted, so a mistake in its transmission is not possible.
So the result is that these people, may Allah protect us from them, are the demons of mankind who come with such speech to confuse people regarding their religion. And if it were not that Allah preserved His religion by providing the divine scholars, the religion would have been lost, and everything would have been lost. He says:
"And likewise their disagreement: is it derived, as they see *** Or is it a root word? Two famous opinions exist
And the original position is that there is a well-established disagreement among the grammarians, and that is of various kinds.
Yes, what is the origin? Meaning, what is the origin of Allah? Is it "al-Ilah" (the God) or an improvised word? Or what is it? There is also disagreement regarding this. Some say: The origin of Allah is "al-Ilah," so the hamzah was deleted due to frequent usage, just as the hamzah was deleted from "al-nas" (people), and its origin is "an-nas," and it was deleted from "sharr" (evil) and "khayr" (good). You say: This is better than this, and this is worse than this, and the origin is "akhyar" (better) and "asharr" (worse). There is also disagreement regarding this.
"And among the calamities is the statement of one of them that *** Allah made the word clear in a tongue
And their disagreement regarding it is much and apparent *** " to the end of it.
Allah means the word Allah. He says this is the clearest word in the Qur'an. The clearest word in the Qur'an that indicates its meaning is the word Allah. No? Why are you standing there?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, Allah—everyone knows what is meant by it. What is meant by it is the Lord of the worlds. So they argue against us, saying: The clearest word is Allah, and yet there is disagreement regarding it. If the clearest word in the Qur'an, which is Allah, has disagreement regarding it, what about the other words that do not match it in clarity? Their purpose with this is to make people doubt the indication of the entire Qur'an. We ask Allah for safety. He says:
"And among the calamities is the statement of one of them that *** Allah"
Allah, and what is meant by that? The word Allah, meaning the word Allah is the clearest word in a tongue
"And their disagreement regarding it is much and apparent *** "
Meaning that people differ regarding the word Allah. How is the disagreement?
"*** Is it Arabic and that was placed, or is it Syriac?"
Meaning: Is Allah Arabic or Syriac? Meaning, is this word Arabic or Syriac in the Syriac language, the language of the Gospel?
"And likewise their disagreement: is it derived, as they see *** Or is it a root word? Two famous opinions exist"
So we have a disagreement. First: Is it Arabic or Syriac? Second: If we say it is Arabic, is it derived or a root word? Even though the word Allah is the clearest word in the Qur'an, and yet the disagreement regarding it exists, what about what is less clear? The disagreement regarding it is even more so. What is the result after this? That the meanings of the words of the Qur'an are not known and not certain, because the disagreement regarding them is much. Look, it is speech that makes one doubt. Speech that makes one doubt. If a person comes to us who is a demon in debate and stands up to speak with such speech, you say, "By Allah, it is correct. The word Allah, which is the clearest thing in the Qur'an, people differ regarding it: Is it Arabic or Syriac? Then if it is Arabic: Is it derived or a root word? So the other words are even more so. Thus the entire Qur'an remains not reliable regarding its indication. We ask Allah for safety. It means, may Allah protect us from such a crime, if the Qur'an is not reliable regarding its indication, then the hadiths are even more so, because the hadith has another defect, which is that perhaps the narrators transmitted it by meaning and made a mistake, unlike the Qur'an, which is mass-transmitted, so a mistake in its transmission is not possible.
So the result is that these people, may Allah protect us from them, are the demons of mankind who come with such speech to confuse people regarding their religion. And if it were not that Allah preserved His religion by providing the divine scholars, the religion would have been lost, and everything would have been lost. He says:
"And likewise their disagreement: is it derived, as they see *** Or is it a root word? Two famous opinions exist
And the original position is that there is a well-established disagreement among the grammarians, and that is of various kinds.
Yes, what is the origin? Meaning, what is the origin of Allah? Is it "al-Ilah" (the God) or an improvised word? Or what is it? There is also disagreement regarding this. Some say: The origin of Allah is "al-Ilah," so the hamzah was deleted due to frequent usage, just as the hamzah was deleted from "al-nas" (people), and its origin is "an-nas," and it was deleted from "sharr" (evil) and "khayr" (good). You say: This is better than this, and this is worse than this, and the origin is "akhyar" (better) and "asharr" (worse). There is also disagreement regarding this.