Explanation of the author's statement: "And the figurative meaning is not accepted except after the completion of four matters
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : He says the figurative meaning "And the figurative meaning is not accepted except after the completion of four matters - pay attention to them - : The first is valid evidence necessitating the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning", which is what is referred to in rhetoric as the indicator (qarinah). We cannot attribute a word to its figurative meaning, if we accept the concept of figurative speech, except after the completion of these four matters:
The first is valid evidence; not every piece of evidence is valid, that necessitates the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning. If no evidence is found, we do not accept it; the default is the literal meaning.
Second "the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language". It is known that the word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language. If it is not capable, do we accept it? We do not accept it. If a person said to another, "Take this, may Allah bless you, take these one hundred riyals and buy me a garment with them," and the man went and bought eight hundred loaves of bread with the one hundred riyals and brought them, and the first man said, "I told you to buy a garment, and you brought bread," and the other said, "Yes, because bread is the garment of the inner self," so you used the word 'garment' figuratively for the garment of the inner self, which is satiety. Is this accepted or not accepted?
The student: It is not accepted.
The Shaykh : Why?
The student: It is not possible.
The Shaykh : It is not possible in the Arabic language. It is not possible, even if it is a figurative interpretation (ta'wil). Even if it is a figurative interpretation, it may be acceptable in some cases. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said[Taha 20:118] He did not say "do not go hungry and do not go thirsty," because nakedness is the stripping of the body of clothing, and hunger is the stripping of the stomach of food. He intended to attribute this to that. We say this is not acceptable. No one in the Arabic language has ever used the word 'garment' for 'bread'; rather, they used 'bread' for 'garment' never. Is that clear? The word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning. If it is not capable, it is not accepted. And what is it?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Do you think that when the sons of Ya'qub said to their father, "Ask the village," that he would go and stand on the walls and say, "What do you say?" Huh, do you think that?
The questioner : No, I do not think so.
The Shaykh : Everyone knows that the intended meaning is the literal meaning that does not allow for any other, which is that you ask its people, yes, in that context.
Okay, the third is "the use of the word for the figurative meaning he claims in .."
The student: ...
The Shaykh :"the possibility of the word, the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims in that specific context, for it is not necessary that if a word is capable of a certain meaning in general, it must be capable of it in every context, because the indicators of words and circumstances may prevent some of the meanings that the word is capable of in general". This is important. I mean, if we assume that this word is capable of this meaning in the language, it requires evidence to prove that this possibility is possible in this specific context. An example of this is the word 'hand' in the Arabic language; is it used to mean 'blessing' or not? There is no doubt about this, as al-Mutanabbi said:
"And how many hands of the darkness of the night are with you *** that claim that the Manichaeans lie"
And yes, likewise, I think he said
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, no, no, in the meaning, it is argued. And likewise, he said to Abu Bakr, the messenger of Quraysh whom he sent to Abu Bakr, I think it was ... ibn Waraqah. He said to Abu Bakr: "Were it not for a hand (favor) you have with me, I would not have accepted it from you, I would have answered you". "Were it not for a hand (favor) you have with me" means a blessing, huh? Or 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud, 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud al-Thaqafi.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Is it used to mean 'blessing' or not? It is used, but is it possible that 'blessing' is intended? Is it possible? Is it possible that the saying of Allah the Exalted[Sad 38:75] intends 'blessing' in this context? It is not possible. So this third point is a possibility on top of a possibility.
First, we say, bring evidence that this meaning is possible for the word in the language. If he brings evidence,
We say, after that, we ask you for the second. What is it? Bring evidence indicating the possibility of the meaning in this specific context, because not everything that a word is capable of in the Arabic language can be capable of in every context.
Okay, the fourth is "that evidence be clear that the intended meaning among the figurative meanings is the one he claimed, because it is possible that the intended meaning is another, so evidence is required for specification". And the strange thing is that this evidence is adhered to by many of the people of interpretation (ta'wil), and they said, "This is what breaks our backs: that you bring evidence indicating that the intended meaning is the specific meaning you designated." Yes, for example, this word is capable of several meanings in the language, including the apparent meaning of the word. The apparent meaning of the word is what is most appropriate for the word, and from it is the meaning that contradicts the apparent meaning which this man claimed. We say, bring evidence specifying that the speech intends what you have gone to. For example, it says "And the command of your Lord has come." He says, bring evidence that the intended meaning is 'His command.' If the intended meaning is "And your Lord has come" and "And the punishment of your Lord has come," and if the intended meaning is "And your Lord has come" and "And the command of your Lord has come" and "And the angel of your Lord has come," do you know? Why do you say "And the command of your Lord has come" only? So at that time, he cannot, meaning, we concede that the word is used in its figurative sense as I said, but what is the evidence that the intended figurative meaning is the one you designated? It is possible that the intended meaning is another figurative meaning, so bring evidence.
And these four aspects were mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), but we may have clarified some of it a little. Rather ...
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know, it passed me in the speech of Shaykh Ibn al-Qayyim. Yes, it is the norm that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) is the original source, but Ibn al-Qayyim refines and adorns it. I seek forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance. Yes? That it is not valid to interpret the rising (istiwa') of Allah over His Throne with His dominion over it. ... The word is capable of it, did you understand? If it is not capable of it, it is rejected from the start. The fourth, we say, suppose the word is capable of it, and he established evidence that the word is capable of it, yes, we say to him, okay, bring evidence that the intended meaning is what you designated, because there is still a possibility that another is intended. And we mentioned yesterday that if he said "Your Lord has come" and said "The command of your Lord has come," we demand evidence from him. When we reach the last point, we say, okay, is it not possible that "The angel of your Lord has come" or "The punishment of your Lord has come"? Yes, "The light of your Lord has come," and we answer with things, and we say, go back and bring evidence for specifying "The command of your Lord has come," yes. And likewise, the one who said "Our Lord descends to the sky" and said "His command descends."
He says the figurative meaning "And the figurative meaning is not accepted except after the completion of four matters - pay attention to them - : The first is valid evidence necessitating the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning", which is what is referred to in rhetoric as the indicator (qarinah). We cannot attribute a word to its figurative meaning, if we accept the concept of figurative speech, except after the completion of these four matters:
The first is valid evidence; not every piece of evidence is valid, that necessitates the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning. If no evidence is found, we do not accept it; the default is the literal meaning.
Second "the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language". It is known that the word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language. If it is not capable, do we accept it? We do not accept it. If a person said to another, "Take this, may Allah bless you, take these one hundred riyals and buy me a garment with them," and the man went and bought eight hundred loaves of bread with the one hundred riyals and brought them, and the first man said, "I told you to buy a garment, and you brought bread," and the other said, "Yes, because bread is the garment of the inner self," so you used the word 'garment' figuratively for the garment of the inner self, which is satiety. Is this accepted or not accepted?
The student: It is not accepted.
The Shaykh : Why?
The student: It is not possible.
The Shaykh : What is possible in the Arabic language, what it can bear, even if it is only in its initial sense, or even if it is only an initial interpretation, may be acceptable in some cases. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said:[Taha 20:118] He did not say "you will not hunger and you will not thirst," because nakedness is the stripping of the body of clothing, and hunger is the stripping of the belly of food. He intended to apply this to that. We say: this is not acceptable. No one in the Arabic language has ever described a garment as bread, or bread as a garment, ever. Is that clear? The word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning. If it is not capable, it is not accepted. And what is it?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Do you think that when the sons of Ya'qub said to their father, "Ask the people of the town," that he would go stand on the walls and say, "What are you saying?" Huh, do you think that?
The questioner : No, I do not think so.
The Shaykh : Everyone knows that the intended meaning is the literal meaning that does not allow for any other, that you ask its people, that is, the context.
Now, the third is: "the use of the word for the figurative meaning that he claimed in..."
The student: ...
The Shaykh :"the possibility of the word, the possibility of the word for the figurative meaning that he claimed in that specific context. It is not necessary that the possibility of the word for a certain meaning in general implies that it is possible for it in every context, because the indicators of words and circumstances may prevent some of the meanings that the word can bear in general". This is important. That is, if we assume that this word can bear this meaning in the language, we need evidence to prove that this possibility is possible in this specific context. An example of that is the word "hand" in the Arabic language, which is used for "blessing" or "favor," right? There is no doubt about this. As al-Mutanabbi said:
"And how many hands of the night's darkness are with you, *** which claim that the Manichaeans lie"
And "blessing" as well, I think he said.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, no, no, in the sense of argument. And he also said to Abu Bakr, "The messenger of Quraysh whom he sent to Abu Bakr, I think it was... ibn Waraqah. He said to Abu Bakr: "If it were not for a hand of yours with me, I would not have accepted it from you, I would have answered you". "If it were not for a hand of yours with me" means a blessing, huh? Or 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud, 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud al-Thaqafi.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Is it used in the sense of "blessing," right? It is used. But can "blessing" be intended? Can it be possible? Can it be possible that the saying of Allah the Exalted[Sad 38:75] intends "blessing" in this context? It is not possible. So this third point is a possibility above a possibility.
First, we say: bring evidence that this meaning is possible for the word in the language. If he brings evidence,
we say: second, we ask you, what is it? Bring evidence that indicates the possibility of the meaning in this specific context, because not everything that the word can bear in the Arabic language can be borne in every context.
Now, the fourth is: "that the evidence be clear that the intended meaning among the figurative meanings is what he claimed, because it is possible that the intended meaning is other than that, so evidence for specification is necessary". And the strange thing is that this evidence is something that many of the people of interpretation have committed to, and they said: this is what breaks our backs, that you bring evidence indicating that the intended meaning is the specific meaning you designated. Yes, for example, this word can bear several meanings in the language, including the apparent meaning of the word, the apparent meaning of the word. And the apparent meaning of the word is what is most fitting for the word, and from it is the meaning that contradicts the apparent meaning that this man claimed. We say: bring evidence that specifies that the speech intends what you went to. For example, says "and the command of your Lord came." He says: bring evidence that the intended meaning is "His command." If the intended meaning is "and your Lord came" and "the punishment of your Lord came," and if the intended meaning is "and your Lord came" and "the command of your Lord came" and "the angel of your Lord came," do you know? Why do you say "the command of your Lord came" only? So at that time, he cannot. That is, we concede that the word is used in its figurative sense as you said, but what is the evidence that the intended figurative meaning is the one you designated? It is possible that the intended meaning is another figurative meaning. So bring evidence.
And these four aspects were mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), but we can clarify them a bit in our own way. Only...
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know, it passed me in the speech of Shaykh Ibn al-Qayyim. That is, it is the norm that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) is the original source, but Ibn al-Qayyim refines and adorns it. I seek forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance. Yes? That it is not valid to interpret the istiwaa' of Allah on His Throne with His dominion over it... the word can bear it, did you understand? If it does not bear it, it is rejected from the start. The fourth, we say: suppose the word can bear it, he established evidence that the word can bear it, yes. We say to him: now, bring evidence that the intended meaning is what you designated, because there is still a possibility that another is intended. And we mentioned yesterday that if he said "your Lord came" and said "the command of your Lord came," we demand evidence from him. When we reach the last, we say: now, is it not possible that "the angel of your Lord came" or "the punishment of your Lord came"? Yes, "the light of your Lord came." And we answer with things, and we say: go back and bring evidence for the specification of "the command of your Lord came," yes. And the same applies to the one who said "our Lord descends to the sky" and said "His command descends." We say: now, you said "His command descends," bring evidence. Yes.
The first is valid evidence; not every piece of evidence is valid, that necessitates the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning. If no evidence is found, we do not accept it; the default is the literal meaning.
Second "the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language". It is known that the word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language. If it is not capable, do we accept it? We do not accept it. If a person said to another, "Take this, may Allah bless you, take these one hundred riyals and buy me a garment with them," and the man went and bought eight hundred loaves of bread with the one hundred riyals and brought them, and the first man said, "I told you to buy a garment, and you brought bread," and the other said, "Yes, because bread is the garment of the inner self," so you used the word 'garment' figuratively for the garment of the inner self, which is satiety. Is this accepted or not accepted?
The student: It is not accepted.
The Shaykh : Why?
The student: It is not possible.
The Shaykh : It is not possible in the Arabic language. It is not possible, even if it is a figurative interpretation (ta'wil). Even if it is a figurative interpretation, it may be acceptable in some cases. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said
Indeed, it is [promised] for you not to be hungry therein or be unclothed.
إن لك أن لا تجوع فيها ولا تعرىThe questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Do you think that when the sons of Ya'qub said to their father, "Ask the village," that he would go and stand on the walls and say, "What do you say?" Huh, do you think that?
The questioner : No, I do not think so.
The Shaykh : Everyone knows that the intended meaning is the literal meaning that does not allow for any other, which is that you ask its people, yes, in that context.
Okay, the third is "the use of the word for the figurative meaning he claims in .."
The student: ...
The Shaykh :"the possibility of the word, the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims in that specific context, for it is not necessary that if a word is capable of a certain meaning in general, it must be capable of it in every context, because the indicators of words and circumstances may prevent some of the meanings that the word is capable of in general". This is important. I mean, if we assume that this word is capable of this meaning in the language, it requires evidence to prove that this possibility is possible in this specific context. An example of this is the word 'hand' in the Arabic language; is it used to mean 'blessing' or not? There is no doubt about this, as al-Mutanabbi said:
"And how many hands of the darkness of the night are with you *** that claim that the Manichaeans lie"
And yes, likewise, I think he said
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, no, no, in the meaning, it is argued. And likewise, he said to Abu Bakr, the messenger of Quraysh whom he sent to Abu Bakr, I think it was ... ibn Waraqah. He said to Abu Bakr: "Were it not for a hand (favor) you have with me, I would not have accepted it from you, I would have answered you". "Were it not for a hand (favor) you have with me" means a blessing, huh? Or 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud, 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud al-Thaqafi.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Is it used to mean 'blessing' or not? It is used, but is it possible that 'blessing' is intended? Is it possible? Is it possible that the saying of Allah the Exalted
to that which I created with My hands
لما خلقت بيديFirst, we say, bring evidence that this meaning is possible for the word in the language. If he brings evidence,
We say, after that, we ask you for the second. What is it? Bring evidence indicating the possibility of the meaning in this specific context, because not everything that a word is capable of in the Arabic language can be capable of in every context.
Okay, the fourth is "that evidence be clear that the intended meaning among the figurative meanings is the one he claimed, because it is possible that the intended meaning is another, so evidence is required for specification". And the strange thing is that this evidence is adhered to by many of the people of interpretation (ta'wil), and they said, "This is what breaks our backs: that you bring evidence indicating that the intended meaning is the specific meaning you designated." Yes, for example, this word is capable of several meanings in the language, including the apparent meaning of the word. The apparent meaning of the word is what is most appropriate for the word, and from it is the meaning that contradicts the apparent meaning which this man claimed. We say, bring evidence specifying that the speech intends what you have gone to. For example,
And your Lord has come
وجاء ربكAnd these four aspects were mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), but we may have clarified some of it a little. Rather ...
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know, it passed me in the speech of Shaykh Ibn al-Qayyim. Yes, it is the norm that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) is the original source, but Ibn al-Qayyim refines and adorns it. I seek forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance. Yes? That it is not valid to interpret the rising (istiwa') of Allah over His Throne with His dominion over it. ... The word is capable of it, did you understand? If it is not capable of it, it is rejected from the start. The fourth, we say, suppose the word is capable of it, and he established evidence that the word is capable of it, yes, we say to him, okay, bring evidence that the intended meaning is what you designated, because there is still a possibility that another is intended. And we mentioned yesterday that if he said "Your Lord has come" and said "The command of your Lord has come," we demand evidence from him. When we reach the last point, we say, okay, is it not possible that "The angel of your Lord has come" or "The punishment of your Lord has come"? Yes, "The light of your Lord has come," and we answer with things, and we say, go back and bring evidence for specifying "The command of your Lord has come," yes. And likewise, the one who said "Our Lord descends to the sky" and said "His command descends."
He says the figurative meaning "And the figurative meaning is not accepted except after the completion of four matters - pay attention to them - : The first is valid evidence necessitating the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning", which is what is referred to in rhetoric as the indicator (qarinah). We cannot attribute a word to its figurative meaning, if we accept the concept of figurative speech, except after the completion of these four matters:
The first is valid evidence; not every piece of evidence is valid, that necessitates the transfer of the speech from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning. If no evidence is found, we do not accept it; the default is the literal meaning.
Second "the possibility of the word bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language". It is known that the word must be capable of bearing the figurative meaning he claims from the perspective of language. If it is not capable, do we accept it? We do not accept it. If a person said to another, "Take this, may Allah bless you, take these one hundred riyals and buy me a garment with them," and the man went and bought eight hundred loaves of bread with the one hundred riyals and brought them, and the first man said, "I told you to buy a garment, and you brought bread," and the other said, "Yes, because bread is the garment of the inner self," so you used the word 'garment' figuratively for the garment of the inner self, which is satiety. Is this accepted or not accepted?
The student: It is not accepted.
The Shaykh : Why?
The student: It is not possible.
The Shaykh : What is possible in the Arabic language, what it can bear, even if it is only in its initial sense, or even if it is only an initial interpretation, may be acceptable in some cases. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said:
Indeed, it is [promised] for you not to be hungry therein or be unclothed.
إن لك أن لا تجوع فيها ولا تعرىThe questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Do you think that when the sons of Ya'qub said to their father, "Ask the people of the town," that he would go stand on the walls and say, "What are you saying?" Huh, do you think that?
The questioner : No, I do not think so.
The Shaykh : Everyone knows that the intended meaning is the literal meaning that does not allow for any other, that you ask its people, that is, the context.
Now, the third is: "the use of the word for the figurative meaning that he claimed in..."
The student: ...
The Shaykh :"the possibility of the word, the possibility of the word for the figurative meaning that he claimed in that specific context. It is not necessary that the possibility of the word for a certain meaning in general implies that it is possible for it in every context, because the indicators of words and circumstances may prevent some of the meanings that the word can bear in general". This is important. That is, if we assume that this word can bear this meaning in the language, we need evidence to prove that this possibility is possible in this specific context. An example of that is the word "hand" in the Arabic language, which is used for "blessing" or "favor," right? There is no doubt about this. As al-Mutanabbi said:
"And how many hands of the night's darkness are with you, *** which claim that the Manichaeans lie"
And "blessing" as well, I think he said.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, no, no, in the sense of argument. And he also said to Abu Bakr, "The messenger of Quraysh whom he sent to Abu Bakr, I think it was... ibn Waraqah. He said to Abu Bakr: "If it were not for a hand of yours with me, I would not have accepted it from you, I would have answered you". "If it were not for a hand of yours with me" means a blessing, huh? Or 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud, 'Urwah ibn al-Mus'ud al-Thaqafi.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Is it used in the sense of "blessing," right? It is used. But can "blessing" be intended? Can it be possible? Can it be possible that the saying of Allah the Exalted
to that which I created with My hands
لما خلقت بيديFirst, we say: bring evidence that this meaning is possible for the word in the language. If he brings evidence,
we say: second, we ask you, what is it? Bring evidence that indicates the possibility of the meaning in this specific context, because not everything that the word can bear in the Arabic language can be borne in every context.
Now, the fourth is: "that the evidence be clear that the intended meaning among the figurative meanings is what he claimed, because it is possible that the intended meaning is other than that, so evidence for specification is necessary". And the strange thing is that this evidence is something that many of the people of interpretation have committed to, and they said: this is what breaks our backs, that you bring evidence indicating that the intended meaning is the specific meaning you designated. Yes, for example, this word can bear several meanings in the language, including the apparent meaning of the word, the apparent meaning of the word. And the apparent meaning of the word is what is most fitting for the word, and from it is the meaning that contradicts the apparent meaning that this man claimed. We say: bring evidence that specifies that the speech intends what you went to. For example,
And your Lord has come
وجاء ربكAnd these four aspects were mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), but we can clarify them a bit in our own way. Only...
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know, it passed me in the speech of Shaykh Ibn al-Qayyim. That is, it is the norm that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) is the original source, but Ibn al-Qayyim refines and adorns it. I seek forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance. Yes? That it is not valid to interpret the istiwaa' of Allah on His Throne with His dominion over it... the word can bear it, did you understand? If it does not bear it, it is rejected from the start. The fourth, we say: suppose the word can bear it, he established evidence that the word can bear it, yes. We say to him: now, bring evidence that the intended meaning is what you designated, because there is still a possibility that another is intended. And we mentioned yesterday that if he said "your Lord came" and said "the command of your Lord came," we demand evidence from him. When we reach the last, we say: now, is it not possible that "the angel of your Lord came" or "the punishment of your Lord came"? Yes, "the light of your Lord came." And we answer with things, and we say: go back and bring evidence for the specification of "the command of your Lord came," yes. And the same applies to the one who said "our Lord descends to the sky" and said "His command descends." We say: now, you said "His command descends," bring evidence. Yes.