in this way. Even so, he has expressed himself poorly, for a general expression does not mean one that encompasses everything. Rather, it encompasses everything it denotes—that is, everything the expression was coined to signify. As a rule, every expression is narrower than those above it in generality and broader than those below it, yet all may be general expressions. Moreover, most speech among the Arabs and other nations consists of general terms. Generality in language corresponds to generality in thought, which is a distinctive property of the “intellect,” the most basic distinction between human beings and beasts.
If it is objected:
We concede that the apparent meaning of the Quran and Sunnah includes women. However, this general scope is qualified, for the hadith concerning men seeing Allah on Friday states:
“The men return to their homes, where their wives greet them and say to each man, ‘You have returned more beautiful than when you left us.’ He replies, ‘Today we sat with our Lord, the Compeller, and it is only fitting that we should return as we have.’”
This indicates that women did not share in seeing Him. If this applies to seeing Him on Friday, it applies all the more to seeing Him morning and evening, since the latter is a higher privilege than the former. How could someone unfit to see Him once a week be fit to see Him twice every day?
If women do not see Him on these two occasions, and it has not been established that people see Him on any other occasion, then it has been established that women are excluded from the general scope of these texts on these two occasions. As for other occasions, this has not been established for either men or women. Thus, nothing remains to indicate that women see Him on another occasion. Either this is left unqualified, in accordance with the default presumption of nonoccurrence, or their seeing Him is denied on these two occasions and judgment is suspended concerning any others, without invoking those general expressions as evidence that they see Him on such occasions