“In interpreting the Qur'an and the Hadith one must know which words indicate what God and His Messenger meant, and how His speech is understood. Knowing the Arabic in which we were addressed helps us grasp what God and His Messenger meant by their words, and so does knowing how words signify meanings; for most of the error of the people of innovation came from this cause: they took the words of God and His Messenger to mean what they claimed them to indicate, when it was not so.”

Ibn Taymiyya

d. 728 AH / 1328 CE

Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyya, Hanbali jurist and theologian

The Arabic original

وَلَا بُدَّ فِي تَفْسِيرِ الْقُرْآنِ وَالْحَدِيثِ مِنْ أَنْ يُعْرَفَ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَى مُرَادِ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ مِنْ الْأَلْفَاظِ، وَكَيْفَ يُفْهَمُ كَلَامُهُ؛ فَمَعْرِفَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ الَّتِي خُوطِبْنَا بِهَا مِمَّا يُعِينُ عَلَى أَنْ نَفْقَهَ مُرَادَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ بِكَلَامِهِ، وَكَذَلِكَ مَعْرِفَةُ دَلَالَةِ الْأَلْفَاظِ عَلَى الْمَعَانِي؛ فَإِنَّ عَامَّةَ ضَلَالِ أَهْلِ الْبِدَعِ كَانَ بِهَذَا السَّبَبِ، فَإِنَّهُمْ صَارُوا يَحْمِلُونَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ عَلَى مَا يَدَّعُونَ أَنَّهُ دَالٌّ عَلَيْهِ، وَلَا يَكُونُ الْأَمْرُ كَذَلِكَ.