The Impact of Linguistic Commendation and Condemnation on Juristic Reasoning: A Theoretical and Applied Study 10.35781/1637-000-161-002

Abstract

This study examines the impact of linguistic approbation and disapprobation on uṣūlī reasoning. It aims to define these two concepts as understood by uṣūl scholars, to distinguish them from rational approbation and disapprobation, and then to uncover the method by which the uṣūliyyūn employ them in the construction of textual indication (dalālah) and the weighing of juristic positions (tarjīḥ al-aqwāl), while tracing their most prominent applications in uṣūl al-fiqh issues. The study adopts an inductive-analytical method, through tracing the statements of uṣūl scholars in their primary loci, collecting instances in which particular forms of discourse are judged linguistically proper or improper, and then analyzing them in light of their semantic, preferential, and structural functions. The study is organized into two main sections. The first is devoted to conceptual and methodological grounding. The second addresses uṣūlī applications concerning the propriety and impropriety of interrogation (ḥusn al-istifhām wa-qubḥuhu), the propriety of emphasis and apposition (ḥusn al-taʾkīd wa-al-ittibāʿ), the propriety or impropriety of exception (ḥusn al-istithnāʾ aw qubḥuhu), the propriety of semantic transfer (ḥusn al-naql), and structural disapprobation (al-taqbīḥ al-tarkībī). The study concludes that linguistic approbation and disapprobation are not merely abstract rhetorical descriptions; rather, they constitute an operative uṣūlī method that affects the direction of understanding, the determination of intended meaning (taʿyīn al-murād), the ordering of interpretive possibilities, and the acceptance of some constructions to the exclusion of others. It further demonstrates that the distinction between them and their rational counterparts lies in locus, authority, and outcome (al-maḥall, al-marjiʿ, wa-al-thamarah): the linguistic pertains to discourse and its usage, whereas the rational pertains to the act and its evaluation. The study also shows that the uṣūliyyūn employ them on three levels: as a semantic indicator (qarīnah dalāliyyah), as a preferential device (maslak tarjīḥī), and as an evaluative criterion for syntactic structure and style. It likewise shows that the propriety of interrogation constitutes the broadest field of application; that the propriety of emphasis and exception, as well as their impropriety, were employed in clarifying the indication of general expressions (dalālat al-ʿumūm) and the limits of inclusion; that the propriety of semantic transfer was employed in evaluating the semantic relocation of terms in connection with a valid purpose and dominant usage; and that structural disapprobation came to function as a factor of preference among otherwise admissible constructions when they differed in linguistic acceptability and awkwardness. Keywords: linguistic approbation (al-taḥsīn al-lughawī), linguistic disapprobation (al-taqbīḥ al-lughawī), legal-theoretical reasoning (al-istidlāl al-uṣūlī), semantic indication of