The Ummah’s Charter by Al-Khilafah Publications

39. The Kitaab and Sunnah are an Arabic speech and a legislative speech. Deducing them as evidence depends on knowledge of the Arabic language.

40. The Arabic language is like the rest of the languages; it has been coined by the Arabs and they agreed upon it by convention. Thus the language is from the conventional usage of the Arabs and not fixed by Allah (SWTH) So long as it is the case that the Arabs were the ones who conventionally agreed on its usage, then the only way to understand it is to take it from the Arabs themselves. If they say such and such word has been coined for such and such meaning, or if they say such and such meaning has been coined for such and such word, then their saying is accepted and sanctioned, without being open to discussion. This is because the conventional usage (istilaah) is incontestable. The issue is one of technical usage and not a rational matter or related to comprehension.

41. The Arabs intended in this context are the Arabs who speak the pure and unadulterated Arabic. They are the ones who used to speak Arabic before it became corrupted. Some of them still remained until the fourth century Hijri. They used to live as Bedouins and so their language was not corrupted. As for those who came after them the Arabic language is not taken from them, nor is their speech a proof.

42. One must restrict oneself to the indication of the word coined by the Arabs. And the meaning of the word must be confined to what the Arabs have coined. This is because the issue is to do with the transmission from the one who coined the term and nothing else. Therefore, the fact that a word is derived from a certain root does not mean all its derivatives have the same meaning, or that any one of these derivatives gives the meaning of the other. The language may give more than one word for one meaning. Or the language may give the word only one meaning, which cannot be given to any other word. This is because all of this is according to the coinage of the Arabs. Thus, the agreement of words by derivation does not mean their agreement in meaning; rather the meaning of each word is taken according to the coinage of the Arabs, regardless of the root of derivation.

43. Confining oneself to the indication of the word coined by the Arabs does not mean one is prevented from derivation or arabisation of words, or using them metaphorically. We have the right to enrich the language through using these three styles. Since these are not only for the pure Arabs; but rather what is specific to them (the Arabs) is laying down the foundations of derivation, arabisation and metaphoric usage, as well as laying down details and forms (awzaan) of the Arabic language. As for the use of derivation, arabisation and metaphor, any Arab who understands the language, as long as he proceeds according to what the Arabs have coined, can do this. Thus the Arabic language, due to its metaphors, derivation and arabisation, is able to express any new meaning. Consequently, it has the capacity to express new events so as to extract their ruling from the Sharee’ah texts.

44. The capacity of the Kitaab and Sunnah to give rulings for every incident depends on the capacity of the Arabic language to express every new meaning. This necessitates, or rather makes it inevitable, that the Arabic language is united with Islam, i.e. the Kitaab and Sunnah, such that they become one indivisible whole. In other words, the Arabic language is an intrinsic part of Islam, i.e. part of the Kitaab and Sunnah and cannot be separated from them. This is how it was in the past, and how it should remain until the end of time. Thus, knowledge of the Arabic language is a fundamental condition of Ijtihaad; recitation of the Faatiha in Arabic is a condition for the validity of Salah. Translation of the Noble Qur’an was not allowed. Hence the Muslims went out of the Arabian Peninsula to the world, carrying the Kitaab and Sunnah in one hand and the Arabic language in the other. They taught the people the Arabic language, just as they taught them the Kitaab and Sunnah in exactly the same way. That is why the Arabic language needs to be treated like the Kitaab and Sunnah in terms of the necessity to learn it and protect it. This is because the Kitaab and Sunnah will cease to exist in the reality of life, or the reality of newly emergent relations, without the Arabic language.

45. Limiting oneself to the meaning for which the Arabs have coined words and adhering to what they have coined, does not prevent the Arabic language from accommodating the sciences and new inventions. This is because it is allowed for every expert in every discipline or invention, to lay down terminology for his or her discipline or invention, so that they agree on new technical terms, from the Arabic language, which have a specific meaning for their disciplines or inventions. This matter is allowed. The Arabs themselves had begun this, and they permitted the usage of terminology as long as it was specific to the subject matter it was coined for. Thus, as regards the science of grammar, principles of dictation and so on, the Arabs did not give technical terms for them. Rather it was the masters of those sciences who laid down the terminology. The Arabs did not know these terminologies. Thus, the experts of these sciences and disciplines set down the technical terms used in such disciples. This was accepted and recognised by the pure Arabs. Therefore, the masters of these disciplines and inventions coin technical terms for every new discipline or invention. They use the Arabic language for this purpose, on condition that they adhere to the Arabic expressions and forms, so that the word continues to be Arabic as coined by the Arabs. Nothing changes regarding the Arabic word except the meaning, which it was technically (isTilaaHan) transmitted to. In this manner, the Arabic language encompasses new disciplines and inventions, whilst adhering to what the Arabs have coined and restricting oneself to the limits they placed.