—as in the Almighty’s words,
“then perform dry ablution with pure earth.”
Likewise, the following are counted as falling under the respective Qur’ānic expressions:
• the person from whom an abnormal seminal emission has occurred within His saying, “If you are in a state of major ritual impurity, then purify yourselves”;
• the forearm within His saying, “and wipe over your faces and your hands with it”;
• the white area between the side-burn and the ear within His saying, “and wash your faces”;
• water whose properties have been altered by having been used for purification, or into which an impurity has fallen without altering it, within His saying, “but if you cannot find water”;
• any liquid that has not been altered by the death in it of something pure or impure;
• one who steals moist, perishable goods, and likewise the grave-robber, within His saying, “As for the male thief and the female thief …”;
• the person who swears an oath binding upon himself toward Allah within what is termed “faith” (īmān);
• granddaughters and grandmothers within His saying, “Forbidden to you are your mothers and your daughters.”
Ijtihād of this sort is acknowledged by all Muslims, both those who affirm analogical reasoning (qiyās) and those who deny it, for some ignorant people imagine that whoever rejects qiyās can ascertain the Lawgiver’s intent merely through knowledge of the language—and this is a grievous mistake indeed.
For this reason Ibn ʿAbbās said:
“Exegesis is of four kinds:
- a tafsīr the Arabs recognize from their own speech;
- a tafsīr no one is excused for being ignorant of;
- a tafsīr known to the scholars; and
- a tafsīr known only to Allah.”
The tafsīr known to the scholars thus comprises categories that cannot be learned from language alone—such as technical legal terms—and it includes the specific entities and their types whose being subsumed under a given term requires scholarly ijtihād.
Section
As for the term about which the questioner asks without knowing its meaning, when he is answered with what is said