The Tarjeeh (outweighing) Between The Dalaalaat (implications/indications) Of The Alfaazh (worded Expressions) Within A Single Text
There could be a Lafzh (wording) mentioned within the text that is open to more than one possible meaning. And so in this situation, which meaning should be taken?
Example:
Allah (swt) said:
And establish the Salaah (An-Noor 56).
The meaning of the Lafzh ‘As-Salaah’ according to the provision of the Arabs (i.e. meaning its linguistic meaning) is Ad-Du’aa (supplication). Its meaning however in accordance to the Shar’a provision (i.e. its Shar’a meaning) is the specific actions that the Messenger of Allah (saw) explained and which begin with the Takbeerah of Al-Ihraam and ends with As-Salaam. And so which of the two meanings is intended within this Aayah?
The scholars of Usool have provided a Qaa’idah (principle) for this: It is that the Haqeeqah Al-Lughawiyah Ash-Shar’iyah outweighs the Haqeeqah Al-Lughawiyah Al-Wad’iyah (the linguistic Shar’iy meaning outweighs the linguistic provided meaning by those Arabs who set and put down the language originally). Consequently, the intended meaning of ‘Establish the Salaah’ is the Shar’iy meaning of As-Salaah. We have previously discussed the categories of the Haqeeqah when discussing the subject area of Arabic studies in the second part of the book, so please refer back to that for further detail. The conflict between the Dalaalaat (implications/indications/meanings) of the single Lafzh (wording) within the text requires outweighing one Dalaalah over another.