Suhaib Webb – Usul alFiqh Lesson Twenty Eight The Ambiguous (Part One)
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Welcome back to our introduction to the Qasool
al Filth. Going through the text, the small
text of the Waruqat of Imam Ajwaidi
Rahimu Allah.
After talking about Am and Hafas
and Mutluk and Muqtayid now Imam Al Haramain
is moving on to something else.
He says
the word
is from a word which means two things.
Number 1,
abundance. That's why you call the sentence in
Arabic word because
it has a lot of words in it.
The other word is ambiguity.
That's why,
you know Sahib Tajwar Urusei says
Abbehamah,
you know, to make something unclear.
Why? Because there's a lot of things there.
Another meaning, also, I heard from Sheikh Al
Hafnawi,
chef Mohammed Ibrahim Hafnawi with Ibe'as Hari Osuri
from Tata
is
that it means to bring things together.
So there's this idea of abundance and a
crowded situation.
So if you think about it, if you
try to find someone in a crowd, it's
difficult. So now
what you're gonna try to do, what the
scholar's trying to do is find the meaning
of a word when the meetings are crowded.
He says
He says that the ambiguous is that which
needs clarification.
The word poverty but here it means need.
It has a need.
As Imam Abbaji used the word.
One of our teachers in his explanation of
Al Qadi Al Baidawi's
Minhaj, he says something nice. I'll define it
for you according to the scholars of this
is a great definition to try to lock
down.
He
said
It's
a phrase or an action
who it's
There are 3 ways to say
The
The best way to say the word is
with Fatima, although you can say it with
Casa or
Who?
It's
evidence
is not clear.
Upon its intended way.
Upon its intended way. Is a really good
definition really good definition.
So in other words
a is something that
it doesn't signify it it's impossible on its
own to do that so that gives us
3
axioms
that we need to pay attention to especially
in an era
where people are sloppy and the are
neglected
And for those of you that are interested,
yes,
I'm teaching you
In English.
What are those axioms?
Number 1, it says al Wujmel
doesn't signify anything because it's crowded. There's a
lot of meanings there.
Very simple axiom says it's not allowed to
use
as an evidence.
I see so many memes, people on TikTok,
Instagram, at times using something which I know
is designated as
as an evidence,
as a problem. And that's why you can
tell when you're listening to someone, whether it's
a chodba or a lecture or explanation of
any work, you can tell if you know
Usulufik
if they know Usulufik.
You will know because they may try to
make
The second axiom
This is very similar to the first but
it adds another layer to it. It says,
it's not allowed to use the explicit meaning
of a
as evidence.
And that axiom continues. It says,
That's not allowed to use the explicit meaning
of a judgment
until the Sharia brings what clarifies it.
Until the Sharia
raise what clarifies.
There's 2 other actions actually I'll share with
you. The other one is
that the default
when engaging in something which is is
That the scholar that comes across something which
is which is Mujiman,
they stop.
Meaning stop from using it as an evidence.
Using it as an evidence.
I'll
give you those 3 actually we'll wait for
the other one in the future, but
these axioms are important because they help us
and and although they're somewhat interrelated
of course but they give us a shade
for a critical and constructive thought
especially within this age that we're living in
now.
Imam al Haramaid he says
You may be asking,
how is something
and why is something Mujman? Let's start with
the second question. Number 1 is Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala sent the Quran
not only for our spiritual benefit,
not only to help guide us to
acts of devotion,
not only to inform us about history but
the Quran as perhaps you saw with is
actually training us how to think,
and encouraging to use our intellect and employ
our intellect
for good.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
Allah
o Allah I seek knowledge, I seek refuge
in you from knowledge of no benefit.
So there are
Mujmal texts in the Quran
because they are inspiring us to continue to
have a deeper relationship with the Quran, to
find the of
those Mujmal within the Quran
and to train our minds
to think
Quranically.
It's very important.
Allah
says, those who know those who don't know
the same.
So the
has a purpose. Allah says
Quran was sent in Arabic so you give
thought.
So you would employ your mind.
That's why I say
said about Quran.
Oh our Lord give us good this life.
Say good in this life is to understand
the Quran. To have that deeper relationship with
the Quran.
And to appreciate
you know,
the depth of what the Quran is trying
to build in our thought processes.
What makes something I'm
going to address it briefly, and then in
our next lesson, I'll go through the 7
sort of
causes for something to be
so you'll, like, have some clarity around
because Imam Al Haramini doesn't get into any
of this. He says
which is the text of Al Azhar. Right?
Before before years ago years ago, around a
100 years ago the text about Azhar
was to
get the someone had to master the of
of Imam.
Later on,
scholars move toward to to towards Islaue's,
explanation he had to also
super important book.
Super important book. But
Joanna brings all of it together.
But Imam Abaidawi
he says
He said that a a a phrase, now
he's talking about words, can be
What is getting at here is that a
word
can be
because
that word in itself carries multiple meanings.
And in in Usul of El Firk, we'll
study this in the future. It's called
Any one word with many meanings like the
word
The word can mean my eye, can also
mean a string.
Came to my clothes, be my heart.
So it carries more than one meaning. The
example that gives
in
the does it mean
initial cycles
or purity?
That is
Then he says
with that you have a word,
right? It has one meaning but there are
different
kinds of things associated with that word. So
for example, the example I believe it gives
slaughter bakkara
cow.
You say it's woolcock.
Bakkara.
But how do they react
to say the Musa? Here you see how
the Quran teaches us to take.
Please
request your lord to clarify for us the
because it's.
Of course, they didn't have this terminology like
you and I have now. This comes after
the frameworks of scholars was established, but you
see something here. Because sometimes I hear people
say, where does come?
Came from where?
What does it
mean?
Then they ask for what?
For your information
is what we would say is that
The point here
is
there are different types of cows, different type
of color of cows, different type of cows
pertaining
to their look.
So, here we say,
hapirpatin
wahida.
So there is one type of cow that's
needed there,
but it's not clear. So the word
leaves it sort of ambiguous.
What color is the cow? What shape is
the cow? Is it fat? Is it not
fat? Is it healthy? Is this this this
this this?
So, say,
the
The third,
the word
of course means self
That
means figurative.
Figurative.
I heard from doctor Fatihee Jersey from
That wind Tahrut
passed
over that river.
To pass.
That's why
is a reward. You give it to someone
as like a recompet for them accomplishing something
so the word
means to go beyond the literal meaning
to the figure in the.
Haram says
It's very important what he says here.
He says or it can be
related to
the
figurative
meaning if the Haqeta is gone. Because first
we have to be very careful. We see
this sometimes especially with neoliberalism.
But also the neoconservatives
do it too in their interpretation of things
but how neoliberalism
has impacted the Muslim life that everybody's looking
for interpretation.
Interpretation?
The foundation is the little
and we're not allowed to go to the
majaz
except
if there is harina.
If there's strong supporting evidence that allows us
to move to the figure.
K? Remember that.
So we
say that the little is a different preference
over the figure.
So here the
He says, or it can be much more
related
to multiple
possible figurative meanings
of a word. I'll give an example in
a second.
If
the efforts to establish the literal are exhausted
And the different
figurative
possibilities
are equal.
None is stronger than the other.
None is stronger than the other.
That means scholars are gonna differ over things.
If I say to Ra'i to Bahran,
I saw an ocean.
If I was in the Masjid and someone
was giving a lecture,
does Bahram now mean ocean or that scholar?
What if that scholar was teaching on the
shore?
And I said,
I saw the ocean,
now there's this possibility it could be the
ocean, could be the arin. That's what he's
getting at here. Faha'Dah mujmed,
because it contains more than one meaning. There's
this ambiguity, the idea of it being crowded.
Right? And because of that crowd, it becomes
ambiguous.
Don't forget that example I gave you at
the very beginning when you're looking for someone
in a crowd, it's hard to find them.
So here, looking for the meeting, but it's
crowded.
It's crowded.
We'll talk about
in the future,
What causes the
and then also we'll talk about especially related
to majez,
right, the figurative.
What allows the scholar to choose one figurative
meaning over another
in the future?