The Fourth Principle: The apparent meaning of texts is what comes to mind from them, and it varies according to the context
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : This fourth principle is a complement to the one before it, which is that the apparent meaning of texts is what comes to mind from them. This apparent meaning is what comes to mind from the meanings, so it is the apparent meaning of the texts. For this reason, if I say, "I killed a lion in the desert," the immediate understanding is that it is the predatory animal. But if I say, "I saw a lion carrying a bag to school," what is the immediate understanding? The immediate understanding is the brave man. So the apparent meaning of the word in the first example is that the lion is the predatory animal, and the apparent meaning of the word in the second is that the lion means the brave man. This is what led the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah to say: "There is no metaphor in language", because a metaphor requires a context. This context makes it a literal truth in its context, such that if a person wanted to divert it from what the context implies, he would not be able to. And by this, we know that the statement of the Shaykh al-Islam is not impossible, as some have claimed, saying that the Arabic language contains metaphorical elements and it is necessary. We say that these metaphorical elements require what? They require a context. This context makes the speech a literal truth in its context, such that if a person wanted to divert it to something else, he would not be able to.
Now, if the apparent meaning of speech is what comes to mind from the meanings, this is the apparent meaning of speech, and it varies according to the context and what is added to the speech, as will come in the examples: "A single word may have one meaning in one context and another meaning in another context", and it is one word.
"And the structure of speech conveys one meaning in one way and another meaning in another way". So now, the meaning of a single word varies, and the structure also varies in meaning from one structure to another. Everything in reality depends on the context. Even those who interpret dreams are presented with a dream in one form, and they interpret it in one way based on the one who saw it, and in another way based on another person, according to the condition of the dreamer. For this reason, it is an error to rely on books written on dream interpretation, because there must be contexts that lead the interpreter to interpret the dream in this specific way.
We return to the reading.
Now, if the apparent meaning of speech is what comes to mind from the meanings, this is the apparent meaning of speech, and it varies according to the context and what is added to the speech, as will come in the examples: "A single word may have one meaning in one context and another meaning in another context", and it is one word.
"And the structure of speech conveys one meaning in one way and another meaning in another way". So now, the meaning of a single word varies, and the structure also varies in meaning from one structure to another. Everything in reality depends on the context. Even those who interpret dreams are presented with a dream in one form, and they interpret it in one way based on the one who saw it, and in another way based on another person, according to the condition of the dreamer. For this reason, it is an error to rely on books written on dream interpretation, because there must be contexts that lead the interpreter to interpret the dream in this specific way.
We return to the reading.