Suhaib Webb – Usul al Fiqh Lesson Twelve The Literal & The Figurative
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Assalamu alaykum.
Welcome back now to our
readings of the Waruqat of Sayna Imam al
Juwayni
Rahim
This, of course, is an advanced class for
students interested in studying, which
is not an easy subject,
particularly for my students, as well as students
at Swiss, and, of course, brothers and sisters
who reached out to me from universities overseas,
specifically Al Azhar who may find it difficult
initially studying this science.
I ask Allah
to make it easy for all of us,
Insha'Allah.
So now as he continues to talk about
the different types of speech,
he moves into a very important important subject,
the literal and the figurative.
The word for literal in Arabic
in this nomenclature
is
And if you notice at the end of
it is
a that
implies that the word
hapiqa has moved from being what's called wasfiyyah
to now is smiyah, to being like a
title.
Majaz
means the figurative. So we're gonna talk about
both of these, insha Allah, and their different
iterations
as mentioned by Sayedna Imam Al Haramain. Why?
Because sometimes the jurists are going to differ
is something literal or figurative. This impacts aqidah,
this impacts fiqh, and also atasawuf.
The word hakiqa
is defined
by the scholars of rhetoric, and I heard
this from Doctor Fateh
right, is
to use a word
as it is initially used in the language.
Like to use it as it should be
used.
For example, if I say,
I visited the zoo, and I saw a
lion.
The word lion is
if I
say,
I saw the moon,
the full moon
in the sky. This is
I
am using that word as it is used
in the language.
This is called
So a literal word
is 1
Right? That I am utilizing the word
as its initial usage
according to the rules of the people of
language.
Now that takes us to
Al Majaz,
because haqqiqah is easy. Right? Because we say
that you know the norm is that the
literal takes precedent over the figurative. We see
sometimes people get a very sloppy with this.
Imam Al Haramain, he says,
That word
in Arabic means to protect something,
to,
bring safety to something.
Now he gives the definition
that Imam Al Haramain
gives,
is whatever
you know, maintains
what it was initially
used for.
Right? So asad, like lion is lion, that's
what the word means.
Saidna haftab, he says, aaara ma'ana because the
definition actually that Imam al Haramain gives is
luqatan,
laysastilaha.
So of course now Imam Al Haramain is
haftab, excuse me, is gonna animate this more.
And he says,
meaning that it maintains its initial
meaning
as is found in the language.
As I said earlier.
Then He says,
the word
which of course is Islam
let me use some mafaa'il, this form is
the passive form,
It's called
I'm
writing it here in the book myself.
That's important for you to know because that
means that this is not the strongest opinion.
When you call
doesn't mean that it's bad, but it means,
like, there's something stronger.
That you use it in its original form
as it's used in speech, like asad is
lying.
Now Imam Al Hata begins to expand and
he said, but if
a phrase or a word
does not maintain
its initial
meaning.
And we'll talk about also its initial name,
right, in the sense of its usage,
right.
See, here he starts to move away slowly
in his explanation. He says, and if a
phrase
no longer maintains
its initial
meaning,
Khalas
as found in the language like al salah
according to Sharia.
So at that moment, when we start to
use the word salah, according to the terminology
of Sharia,
what's called
then
this is no longer hakiyaki.
This is no longer hakiyaka.
Now we're using
the Haqqiqah Sharaya,
which is majaz and the luha.
Right? So it may be the reality of
the sharia is a salah
is,
prayer,
but according to the Arabic language, al
salah means dua.
What is he doing here is something very
important.
And I'm gonna talk about it in a
second, but just brace yourself.
Imam Al HaTab is doing something very important,
and he wants to show you, if you
study the
right? How the Arabs, what that means to
lay it down, right?
To give birth
So what he's alluding here is that there
are going to be
3 types of
wada
in relationship to Haqika
and in relationship
to majaz.
The first is the luwa,
butter is butter.
Or,
salah is dua.
Allah says in Surat Tawba that your dua
for them, salataka,
brings them tranquility. Here,
salah means dua.
But when Allah says
That salah keeps away from evil, it doesn't
mean dua, it means prayer. So now this
is
And the word daba,
right, according to the people of Medina, a
daba
is like a donkey
or a sheep
or a camel
or a lamb or a cow, something that
has 4 legs.
Deba.
This is Arf.
So pay attention
that the usage of the language when it
comes to the figurative and the literal
is is gonna fall under 3 designations.
The first is aluwa.
Asad is a lion or, excuse me,
salah is dua.
The second is a
What is?
A salah means
5 daily prayers that we know.
The third is ahlul'urf.
And
wadu'urf
has 2 sections under it. Number 1 is
what's called the orafam.
So like the everybody.
Example would be like, you know,
Maasele.
Like, seli doesn't mean the guy I'm in
jail with. Or seli doesn't mean, you know,
a cell. Cell means my cell phone.
So this is a Orfi usage.
But there's also
For example,
wal math'ool
wal istiara,
wal ikhfa, walivhar. All those terms you find
in different knowledges,
different sciences and fields are called
Arfhas.
So the what actually is for.
Right? I could find a literal that is
linguistically
a literal. It could be sharia literal. It
could be orfam literal, or orfhasliteral.
This is very very important.
Later on especially when we talk about interpretation
and even giving answers to people.
Then the Sheykhid says
figurative is from a word which means to
pass by
something's place.
It's a place that we pass by. Ade
Ismakan.
And we say that Al Majaz
according to the language is istiammarulkarima.
Is the usage employment
of a word
in a way other than it was initially
employed in its origin.
For example,
if I say to
you, Ra'aitu
ams
Yesterday,
I saw a lion giving the khutba.
I am talking about a person.
Now this definition continues because
it's very important because there are some people
who deny
Majas, no
Quran.
When can they differ with the majority?
We respect their ish jihad even if we
don't agree with their answer.
So we say
If you can memorize this, it's very important,
mashaa Allah.
What does that mean? That means that I'm
using a word now
in a way
that goes beyond
goes beyond its original meaning. That's why it's
called Majaz,
right? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
I think it's sort
of
verse 249,
When they passed by the river,
that's why the reward is called Jazah
because this is what you get for
accomplishing what you need to do. Imam,
the Sahib says
that Jazza actually is a word that came
from originally
the prize the king would give someone from
the army who would cross like a river
or cross some difficulty and achieve it, then
they would get the jazah.
But the meaning is to pass.
So here
Meaning now the meaning has passed by its
original
meaning to something else. So when I say
I'm now employing majaz.
I saw a moon giving the khutbah.
I saw a lion giving the khutbah.
This is obviously not tahatiqah. This is the
And the the definition continues, and this is
very important.
Due to a relationship
and we're gonna talk about these different kind
of relationships here in a second. Imam Al
Haramain only mentions a few, but in the
books of Balaha,
it's a lot.
Li'alaqatin
because of the relationship
and
something within the phrase that is evidence to
show
it's figurative,
that prevents us from
understanding the original intent is what's implied here.
So when I say to you, for example,
I saw a lion giving the Khutba. Let's
think about it.
I use the word
in a way in which it's not originally
used for. I'm not talking now about a
lion.
How do you know that? Because of the
alaka.
Because
a lion doesn't give the khutba.
So as though I'm saying al khatib kaasid,
fichuja'atihi.
You know, the khatib and his bravery was
like like a lion.
Right? So that's the kareena
that shows you that I'm not lying,
and that what I'm saying is not literal.
Manyatin,
but also the way I've used it prevents
you from understanding or thinking, I mean iradat
al ma'ana al asli.
A great example of this is
It's called istiara.
So here I'm saying guide us to the
straight path. Do I mean literally
like a straight path outside?
Of course not.
So if I think about it, surat mustaqim,
I'm using this in a way that is
different than surat mustaqim, the literal meaning. How
do you know that? Because I'm saying guide
me to it. So therefore you understand what
I'm saying is
iddina to Islam.
Khalas
is very important.
In our definition, we say,
Because of a relationship.
The relationship is related to the form of
the word or the meaning of the word.
Let's talk about some of these different relationships
just quickly.
For example,
I could mention
something that's to come,
but I mean what led to it.
This is majez.
For example, in Surah Yusuf,
Right?
I saw in my dream that
I am grinding
alcohol.
Do you grind alcohol, or do you grind
dates?
Grapes?
You grind grapes, but he mentions alcohol, this
is majaz.
What's gonna come out of the grapes? So
he mentioned what's gonna come out of the
grapes.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, literally
there's no way she gave birth to a
teenager. So this
is When Sayidna
says
No, they are only going to birth
criminal disbelievers.
And if you think about the definition that
I gave,
You can apply it to every one of
these verses and you can see that relationship,
the alaka.
So the first alaka, and there's more I
just wanted to introduce you to is Masayakoon,
where you mentioned what's going to come in
the future
in the place of what led to it.
And now you see how the Quran leads
to Tadabbur, mashallah.
Another example is Maqan.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
Allah
says, give the orphans their money.
There is no difference amongst the mataehb that
we are not allowed to give orphans
the money their family has left for them.
Until they become of age. And at that
time, they're no longer considered yateen.
Why would Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tell us
when engaging adults like this? Why would Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala call them yatama? So we'll
have mercy on them, mashAllah, we'll empathize with
them and we'll be just. So this is
the opposite of Masayakun,
this is Maqan,
what it was. So instead of saying
give to these grown men and women, it
says
So this is called
So it mentions what's in the past. So
now we think about the past
in order to act correctly
in the present.
Other times we think about the future,
so we can think about how to act
in the present. SubhanAllah, it's actually really cool,
man.
Also sometimes Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala was
called
Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala says that we sent
from the heavens risk. Did your house, your
car, your wife, your husband, your kids come
from the heavens? This is your risk.
No, what came is the rain. But here
Allah,
this is called Araqa as Sababiya.
He mentions the outcome instead of the cause
so that we'll go back through everything we
have and think about what led to what
we have or what led to that situation.
This is a tadabur,
mashAllah.
Now we can see how rhetoric, the rhetoric
of Arabic
really commands us to think deeply in the
relationship we have with the Quran.
So Wa'azalnaaminasama'iriz
SubhanAllah,
my wrist didn't come from the heavens. Rain
came from the heavens.
The blessing of water, the blessing of rain.
How everything is reliant on Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, Allahu Akbar.
Also the opposite.
You know,
what
the outcome is missioned instead of the cause,
musabbabiya.
So
Allah says those who eat the property of
orphans.
Most people don't eat the property of orphans,
they steal it. But why do they steal?
To eat.
And here eating could be, you know, meaning
to satisfy their shaoha
and their evil desires, which at the head
of it all people over consume.
The only thing they eat is fire.
Are they eating fire the fire of *?
No. But if to say that all this
is going to be a cause of *,
and all this,
you know, usurping the wealth of orphans
is going to be led or used to
what? To please someone's desire. This is ala
katuhu
al musababa.
So
I just wanted to give you a few
examples of this because that's what Imam Al
Haramain is gonna do. But by no means
does he mention them all. What did I
mention? Number 1, Alakaat Masiyakul
inmi Irani aseeruhamra
I saw that I am stomping on alcohol.
You don't stop on alcohol. You stomp on
grapes. Grapes for Bashar. Now who will be
hollim and harim. Give them the good news
of this forbearance teenager. Nobody gives birth to
a teenager.
They're only gonna give birth to, like, criminals
and disbelievers.
It means what will happen.
And also what
was wa'atul
yata
ma'am.
Give to the orphans their wealth. They're not
orphans anymore, but we remember the past
to have the empathy and appreciate
what needs to be done for the present
and to be honest.
Also, that's called
so
the Alaka of the Majes is
The next is Sababia.
So
the outcome is mentioned, not the cause. This
is called
okay.
And then Mosadd Baba where you mentioned the
outcome instead of the cause. So for example,
you say,
you know,
Right? They ate
the property
and they ate hellfire.
So you see this is incredible, man.
And how the Quran Mashallah
and why Balaga is very important in fit
and also in shala. We're gonna teach Balaga
in the future.
But I just wanted to open a window
to you. Again this is a beginner session.
I'm not trying to make it too complicated.
I know there's some things I didn't say
or didn't explain
but this is just to get us in
a place where we start to understand
what's going on.
So he says
doctor Fatiha Jazee told me that Majazee to
pass by something.
Right?
Then the Imam HaTab says, wahu, I'm must
stop me.
Like what I said earlier, something that is
used beyond its original usage in speech.
And now he talks about what I said
earlier.
And it's the one that's used by the
language.
Right?
The people of that language and here he
gives example of lion. Right? So I saw
a lion in the Kaaba. I saw acid
in the Kaaba. I saw the lion in
the Kaaba. That's.
And then there's the Sharia usage, which I
talked about earlier.
For example, like salah, and this is what
is defined and laid down by Allah
in the Quran or
Sayyidina
And the third Imma Orfi
has 2 parts.
Are the people we live with. That's why
Al Qarafi Al Mariki and Al Akhem will
talk about this later on when we get
to the discussions about the Mufti and the
Mujtahhid.
But particularly, the mufti has to be aware
of the slang of the people where he
or she lives.
Because if not,
he or she may give an answer based
on the Orf of his or her understanding
and give the wrong fatwa or the wrong
answer. SubhanAllah.
For example, Adaba, Ahum Badin is Adaba is
Zawat Arba'a. Right? Donkeys,
cows, sheep, goats, and so
on.
But anything that walks on the earth is
called Deba,
according to the language, not according to Orf.
And then we have ahloo or
orkhas like al Iffa.
Iffa means to hide
in the Luqa but in Tajweed, Iffa
So this is called
The
The Sheikh he
says, and so on and so forth.
Then the Sheikh he starts to give examples,
Imam al Haramain, of different types of Majaz,
some different Alaaqat relationships.
I gave you some earlier.
He's gonna give you more. What did I
do that to introduce the topic to you,
but then to also show you it's a
lot more out there than just what the
Sheikh is going to introduce you, because of
course, this is an introductory book and to
also implore you to study
Balaga.
He says,
We're gonna talk about 3 of these today.
We're gonna talk about Ziyada. We're gonna talk
about Nuksan. We're gonna talk about Naqal, InshaAllah,
then we're gonna stop.
What does he mean by ziara? For example,
The Kaf here, you could take it out
and say,
So this Kaf, I don't like the word
ziara, as it was taught to me by
my teachers. And also Sheikh Sharawa
has a great discussion about this.
Ziyarat and Ma'ani to feed Ziyarat and Ma'ani.
Whenever there is an addition to a word,
usually it's to
a So
right? The kef here is
majez
because it doesn't mean like.
It means complete.
Like no imp no partial likeness
or no complete likeness.
Another example is wam sahu
be your entire head.
Khalas?
So this is what's called
ziyarah. Sayyidna Imam Haramain says ziyarah anoohib
to say a tokid.
A tokid.
So this is the first but you could
say
Right? You don't have to have those there.
Why are those there?
Because
which means
Shamul.
So the ba is meaning like you have
to do do it do it according to
Sadaat al Malikiya.
According to Sadaat al
Khalas,
Izan al Malikiyeh,
look here, they're saying the ziyada
is for tokid
walumu.
The Sheyfeiyeh are saying the Be' is not
for tokid balalaxliqusus.
So here you see why this is important
now
In our discussions that we're gonna have in
the future.
And unfortunately, I have to say that
the the the the the level of literacy
amongst Western Muslims
is because they want everything handed to them
on a plate. They don't like to work
harder. They'd rather argue than learn.
It's very hard to even find people to
have this kind of discussion with. I know,
you know, I could count them on to
basically less than 10.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala help us to
be more passionate about learning instead of other
things. The second is Al Nuksan.
Al Nuksan
means that something is missing, what's called
idmar.
For example,
as the town.
Obviously, Al Qariya is
So So the word ahel is gone.
Why?
To show Tokita also. Like man you could
even ask the town. It would tell you.
But we understand Wasal Ahl Qariya.
This is called Idmar.
You find that also in Bismillahir Rahmanirrahim.
To show that in any situation, you can
say the basmalah and that's outlined by the
ulama.
And the last is Naqal.
And here Naqal,
as used by Imam Al Haramain is something
very important. So let's read through this first
and then,
we'll stop, Insha'Allah.
As I said earlier, the purpose of the
kaf is to show there's no partial or
complete likeness
to Allah
Well Majaz will be
said earlier, an example of
are the shurut? We mentioned them earlier in
the definition of majaz and yakuna filmavharidalilmahdulmadhu.
That there is evidence that something's hidden. Like,
it's impossible. It's called majaz aqli. Like, it's
impossible to ask a town, man.
So sheikh says, you know, this is a
form of what's called Majaz Majaz Aqli.
Well, Majez will be Nakli.
He says,
For example, Hhait. The word Hhait actually means
a place where people used to go use
the restroom,
which was soft and hidden.
In the Quran,
the meaning of that place
is now given to the act of defecation.
Any of you came from ghhait
meaning defecation.
This is majaz.
Majaz is nakal. Nakal means to transfer. Arabic
is a moving truck. In
we have
So to the noon.
So the word Naqal means to
transfer. That's why we say
right?
The the the word for riwaya also is
because it passed from one to another.
So here what's being transferred
is
the name of something
to something else,
not the meaning.
Right? The the the meaning
is still to defecate. The meaning is still
the place
where people go to use the restroom. But
what changes the word?
So be careful here. So
min l insan.
So the meanings
are still there, but the words now
is what's mankul.
So in the first few examples, it was
actually the meaning that transfers. In this example,
it's the name.
It's the name.
Came up as what Imam Al Haramain says
as I mentioned earlier.
Next time, we're gonna talk about istiara
because
is a lot of information. I know this
is a lot longer than I normally like
to have things, so I don't wanna overwhelm
you. But Alhamdulillah,
today we talked
about We talked about what is
We talked about
Majaz
And then we talked about the Alaka,
the meanings, the relationships
between different types of figurative,
what it could be, what it was,
what the cause,
the causer.
And then the sheikh, he mentions some, right?
Ziada,
nuqsan,
and naqal.
I want you to remember this,
that his usage of the word Naqul is
going to be
criticized in our next class by the writers
of the
explanations of his book
and their criticism is valid. But again, we
know he wrote the book for beginners. It's
a summary of aluma.
But I want you to remember this, that
majaz
means transfer.
So every aspect of majaz is nakal,
not just one part. Whether it's the nakal
of the meaning or the nakal of the
name,
still there's a nakal and a mankul.
And next time also, we're gonna talk about
isti'aara
in greater detail. Barak lawfeekum,
wala salamu barakaraseyidina
Muhammad.
This is a very important subject. And, you
know, I was asked to teach it this
way.
I believe you have to raise the bar,
you know, in the West, in certain sciences,
but at the same time, making it acceptable
and acceptable, accessible to everybody. So be patient
with yourself. Don't
allow something being hard to push you away.
Look at it as a process. Mashaa Allah.
I read
the section on majaz in haqqiqah
more than 75 times to teachers
just because it's what it is, man. It's
it just demands that work. And I'm here
to help you. Any questions, any comments, anything
I can do to facilitate,
feel free to criticize me. I'm not I'm
not gonna get upset. I wanna
improve my ability to, teach these things. And
it is not easy to teach this,
in English for someone like me, simple country
guy from Oklahoma.
I make Dua for you and your families,
and I hope you have a wonderful Ramadan
as well.