Which is more severe: tafwid or tahrif?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Which is more severe?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Tafwid or tahrif?
The Shaykh : Both have a bad aspect. Tahrif is better than tafwid in that it assigns a meaning to the Qur'an, giving it value, whether that meaning is the truth or falsehood. However, tahrif is more severe in terms of its boldness toward Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as it claims that Allah intended this specific meaning for this wording. Tafwid is more severe in that it renders the Qur'an meaningless, reducing it to the status of the alphabet—alif, ba, ta, tha, and so on. This implies the absurdity of the Qur'an being revealed to a community raised on the oneness of Allah and on what is due to Allah, only for its indication of these meanings to be lost. Thus, tafwid is more severe in this regard. From the perspective that a person did not dare to attribute to Allah what he did not know, tahrif is milder. So, each has a bad aspect, and both are misguidance. Both are misguidance. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Tafwid or tahrif?
The Shaykh : Both have a bad aspect. Tahrif is better than tafwid in that it assigns a meaning to the Qur'an, giving it value, whether that meaning is the truth or falsehood. However, tahrif is more severe in terms of its boldness toward Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as it claims that Allah intended this specific meaning for this wording. Tafwid is more severe in that it renders the Qur'an meaningless, reducing it to the status of the alphabet—alif, ba, ta, tha, and so on. This implies the absurdity of the Qur'an being revealed to a community raised on the oneness of Allah and on what is due to Allah, only for its indication of these meanings to be lost. Thus, tafwid is more severe in this regard. From the perspective that a person did not dare to attribute to Allah what he did not know, tahrif is milder. So, each has a bad aspect, and both are misguidance. Both are misguidance. Yes.