Explanation of the statement of Ibn Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): "And speech is treated like absolute conjecture *** in the language of Salim, say: 'This one is fearful.'"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : He said: "And speech is treated like absolute conjecture *** in the language of Salim"
"Speech is treated like absolute conjecture" means without any condition; it is not required that a question precede it, nor that it be in the form of the present tense for the addressee, nor in any specific form. So you say, "I said that Zayd is departing," meaning "I conjectured that Zayd is departing," and you say, "Say that this one is fearful," meaning "Conjecture that Zayd is fearful." Now, do we say here that we choose the easier one, which is the language of Salim? Just as if grammarians differed on an issue, the rule for us in the chapter of grammar is to choose the easier one. Is this like that? No, it is not like that, because this is one language and that is another language. The language of Salim is independent, and the language of the others is independent. So it is not permissible for us to choose this over that, unless we intend to choose the language of Salim, in which case there is no harm. But from the perspective of consideration, we will choose the language of the majority and say that speech is not treated like conjecture except with the conditions mentioned by the author.
"Speech is treated like absolute conjecture" means without any condition; it is not required that a question precede it, nor that it be in the form of the present tense for the addressee, nor in any specific form. So you say, "I said that Zayd is departing," meaning "I conjectured that Zayd is departing," and you say, "Say that this one is fearful," meaning "Conjecture that Zayd is fearful." Now, do we say here that we choose the easier one, which is the language of Salim? Just as if grammarians differed on an issue, the rule for us in the chapter of grammar is to choose the easier one. Is this like that? No, it is not like that, because this is one language and that is another language. The language of Salim is independent, and the language of the others is independent. So it is not permissible for us to choose this over that, unless we intend to choose the language of Salim, in which case there is no harm. But from the perspective of consideration, we will choose the language of the majority and say that speech is not treated like conjecture except with the conditions mentioned by the author.