Differentiating between a Literal meaning and a Term of the Qur'an

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Question:

I understand that in Islamic literature, a meaning of a word can either be in its literal connotation, or as a term of Islamic literature, or both.
Please show how, say, when approaching the Qur'an, readers should distinguish between the various type of usages. A few examples would greatly help.
Adil Farooq
United Kingdom

Answer:

Not only in the Islamic literature, but generally in all literary writings a word can be used in its common literal connotation as well as in a more specialized connotation, as a term. This is a common phenomenon with all the languages of the world and the Islamic literature is no exception. When we study the Holy Qur'an we find both kind of usages. Though delicate but this discrimination is not that difficult. One could easily differentiate between both kinds of usage. This is what happens in all the texts.

The word 'depreciation' literally connotes downgrading and reduction but as a term in financial records it is used for the reduced value of an asset after a certain period of time. However most authors of technical books portion out a whole chapter to provide the meaning of the terms they use. Literary works however are always void of this facility. Here you need to acquaint yourself with the discourse style of a particular work. An exhaustive and thorough reading would make you well versed in that piece of literature and you will be able to ascertain whether a particular word is used in literal sense or as a term. A thorough study of the language and style of the Holy Qur'an and taking the context in which words occur in consideration will lead to the right meaning. Without a fair knowledge in this regard one is very likely to misconstrue certain words.

A student of the Holy Qur'an, once getting himself acquainted with the text of the Holy Book certainly understands that the word كتاب (kitaab) in the verse"أِنّيْ أُلْقِيَ إِلَيَّ كِتَابٌ كَرِيْمٌ"  (An honorable letter has been sent to me) is used literally and the same word in the verse وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَ الْحِكْمَةَ (and he teaches them the law and the wisdom) is used as a term. We cannot take their meaning interchangeably. Similarly the words "صَلَاة" (prayer) connotes supplication (as in the verse "إِنَّ صَلَاتَكَ سَكَنٌ لَّهُمْ") but the Holy Qur'an mostly uses it as a term for the prayer we perform in the prescribed manner. Another example is the word "رَسُوْل"  (rasul) literally meaning a messenger. It is used literally in the verse "وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُكَلِّمَهُ الله إِلّا وَحْياً أَوْ مِنْ وَّرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ رَسُوْلاً فَيُوْحِيََ بِإِذْنِهِ مَا يَشَاءُ" (It is not fitting for a man that God speak to him except by Wahi, or from behind a veil, or by sending of a messenger to reveal with God's permission what God wills) As a term in the Holy Book it connotes the Messengers of God as in the verse, "إِنّا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ رَسُوْلاًَ شَاهِداً عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلى فِرْعَوْنَ رَسُوْلاًَ"   (indeed we have sent a Rasul to you, bearing witness upon you [of God's guidance], just as we had sent a Rasul to Pharaoh).

I hope this helps.
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
October 11, 2002

Taken with thanks from www.understanding-islam.org

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