and his water. Despairing of it, he lies down and falls asleep; when he awakens, he finds his mount standing beside his head. Allah is even happier with His servant’s repentance than that man is with the return of his mount.” (1)

Such a case leaves the listener in no doubt about the speaker’s intent. Therefore, if someone reports that intent [ق 5 ب] in the very sense for which the wording was originally coined (2), together with the corroborating contextual indicators, his report is truthful. But if he interprets the speaker’s words in a sense that the wording itself does not bear (3) and to which no accompanying sign points (4), then to claim that this is what the speaker meant is a lie about him.

When a person says, “The wording is to be carried (5) to such-and-such a meaning,” he should be asked: What do you mean by “carried”? Do you mean that the wording was originally coined for that meaning? If so, that is nothing more than a statement of linguistic fact whose proper place is in the lexicons; your “carrying” adds nothing. Or do you mean that you believe the speaker intended the meaning to which you have carried the text? That is an assertion without knowledge, a fabricated falsehood unless you can produce evidence showing that the speaker intended it. Or do you mean that you yourself have devised (6) a new meaning for it, so that whenever you hear the expression you assume that this is what it signifies? In reality, that is precisely what you are doing, even if you will not admit it.

Thus, “carrying” (ḥaml) is either a report about the speaker, claiming that he intended that meaning—such a report is truthful if that meaning is what the wording naturally conveys, and it is false if it is not.