In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger ﷺ.
Continuing the chapter on the fifth kind of bayan (ijtihad and analogy), and clarifying that the Qur’an is in a clear Arabic tongue:
Imam al-Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy on him, continues his discussion of analogy, explaining that the agreement of an analogy with the prior report (the original case from the Book and the Sunnah) comes in two ways:
- Agreement in meaning (analogy by ratio legis, qiyas al-‘illah): If a text prohibits or permits something because of a certain meaning (‘illah), and we draw an analogy from it to another thing that shares the same meaning, we give it the same ruling. Example: drawing an analogy from wheat to rice in the obligation of zakah, because they share the attributes of being a staple food, storable, and measured by volume. This is the basic form of analogy and the strongest.
- Agreement by resemblance (analogy of resemblance, qiyas al-shabah): If a thing resembles one thing in one respect and another thing in another respect, and we find nothing that resembles it more closely than one of them, we attach it to the one that resembles it most. Example: drawing an analogy from the sacrificial camel (badanah, a she-camel) to the ostrich in the compensation for killing game, because of its resemblance to it in size. This kind is weaker than analogy by ratio legis.
The foundations of inference:
Imam al-Shafi’i mentions the agreed-upon foundations of inference: the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, and analogy. He explains the importance of knowing the points of consensus and disagreement on issues before undertaking ijtihad.
The Qur’an is in a clear Arabic tongue:
Imam al-Shafi’i devotes a large part of this chapter to the point that the Noble Qur’an was revealed in a clear Arabic tongue, and he refutes those who claimed that it contains non-Arabic words. He introduces this with important preliminaries:
- Knowledge of the Book of Allah: This includes knowing that the whole of the Book of Allah was revealed in the tongue of the Arabs; knowing what abrogates and what is abrogated; knowing whether a command indicates obligation, recommendation, or permissibility; knowing the position of the Prophet ﷺ in clarifying what Allah firmly established in His Book; and knowing the parables struck in the Qur’an to point to obedience, to forbid heedlessness of one’s share, and to encourage increasing in voluntary deeds.
- Refuting the claim that the Qur’an contains non-Arabic words: Imam al-Shafi’i explains that the scholars agree that the Qur’an contains no non-Arabic constructions (sentences in a foreign language), and they agree that it contains non-Arabic proper names (such as Ibrahim and Isma’il). The disagreement concerned certain words in which Arabic coincided with other languages. Al-Shafi’i holds that these words are among those in which the two languages coincide, and that they were not borrowed from another language.
He clarifies that the disagreement on this issue is slight, and that the point is that the Qur’an was revealed in an Arabic tongue that the Arabs understand, whether some words had been used in other languages before the revelation of the Qur’an and were then used by the Arabs and became part of their language, or were originally Arabic.
He stresses that no Arab at the time of the Prophet ﷺ or afterwards needed to learn another language in order to understand the Qur’an. He explains that al-Shafi’i’s objection is only against whoever says that there are non-Arabic words whose meanings require knowledge of a foreign language.
Proofs that the Qur’an is Arabic:
Imam al-Shafi’i proves that the Qur’an is in clear Arabic with many verses of the Noble Qur’an, including:
- “And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people” (Ibrahim 14:4).
- “And indeed, it [i.e., the Qur’an] is the revelation of the Lord of the worlds. The Trustworthy Spirit [i.e., Gabriel] has brought it down upon your heart, [O Muhammad] - that you may be of the warners - in a clear Arabic language” (al-Shu’ara’ 26:192-195).
- “Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an that you might understand” (Yusuf 12:2).
- “And We certainly know that they say, ‘It is only a human being who teaches him.’ The tongue of the one they refer to is foreign, and this [recitation, i.e., Qur’an] is [in] a clear Arabic language” (al-Nahl 16:103).
- “And if We had made it a foreign [i.e., non-Arabic] Qur’an, they would have said, ‘Why are its verses not explained in detail [in our language]? Is it a foreign [recitation] and an Arab [messenger]?’” (Fussilat 41:44).
He explains that Allah singled out His Prophet ﷺ and his people for mention along with His Book, and that every Muslim is obliged to learn enough of the tongue of the Arabs for his belief and worship to be sound.
Summary:
In this chapter Imam al-Shafi’i explains the importance of analogy as one of the sources of legislation, and clarifies that the Noble Qur’an was revealed in a clear Arabic tongue, that this tongue is vast and rich, and that knowing it is necessary for understanding the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ. He refutes those who claimed that the Qur’an contains non-Arabic words, and stresses the obligation of learning the Arabic language in order to understand the religion.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami