Usool At-tafseer by Shu‘bah ibn al-Hajjaaj, Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah and it was translated by Dr. M. Abdul Haq Ansari

Islaamic laws and principles, like all laws, have certain general and specific goals which they are designed to achieve. In order to achieve these goals, the laws address society under a given set of circumstances. Sometimes the laws are directed to all people of the society under all circumstances, sometimes to all people under specific circumstances, at other times to particular people in special situations, and at other times to particular people in all situations. Hence, the language by which these laws are delivered has to accurately distinguish between the various cases in order to avoid any confusion and misinterpretation. The Arabic language in which the Qur’aan was conveyed has a number of words, phrases and grammatical constructions which express the various shades of meanings necessary to clarify the intent of the laws. Some of these expressions will be briefly studied in this chapter in order to give the reader a glimpse of some of the modes of expression.