The Importance of Clear & Accurate Terminology

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

O you who have believed, say not [to Allah’s Messenger], “Ra’ina” but say, “Undhurna” and listen. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment. [Surah 2, Ayah 104]

The believers used to say “ra’ina” to the Prophet (peace be upon him) with the intended meaning of “turn to us” or “take care of us,” however, ra’ina could also linguistically mean “listen to us.”

And so the Jews began saying ra’ina to the Prophet with that intended meaning. Other scholars argue that the Jews intended to curse the Prophet with the usage of this word (basically intending the meaning of رعونة). And so when some of the companions confronted the Jews, they would simply say, “but you say the word too!”

As a result, this ayah was revealed, instructing the believers to stop using this term. Imam al-Qurtubi said in his Qur’anic commentary:

في هذه الآية دليلان‏:‏‏ [‏أحدهما‏]‏ على تجنب الألفاظ المحتملة التي فيها التعريض للتنقيص

“In this ayah are two proofs: One of them is the avoidance of ambiguous terms that are vulnerable to diminution.”

Even many scholars from the Salaf forbade the utterance of vague phrases such as “My recitation of the Qur’an is created,” for example since it could either entail a correct or false meaning. This is especially during a time where many people use that vague statement while intending a false meaning.

If our experience tells us that specific terms or phrases are usually misunderstood, then we need to either drop those terms or put extra effort clarifying them if there is good reason to believe that not doing so would lead to the adoption of false understandings.

This is extremely important in our times, especially given how terms and phrases such as, “moderate Muslim,” “terrorism,” “Jihad,” “women’s rights,” “human rights,” “religious freedom,” “extremist Muslim,” “Shariah law,” “anti-discrimination,” “Muslim scholar,” “tolerance,” “barbaric punishment,” “religiously open-minded,” “freedom of expression,” “enlightened,” “religious pluralism,” etc. signify both false and correct meanings according to Islam.

Unfortunately, many continue to misuse the following popular principle which states that semantical differences are given no practical/relevant consideration (لا مشاحة في الاصطلاح).

People need to understand that the scholars made caveats to this principle. The most important ones I would like to highlight here are:

1) That all relevant parties know the meaning of the terms being used by the individual, thus:

1a) The term used should not oppose what is most prevalently understood, as that could result in confusion and miscommunication.

1b) The term used should not be plausibly confused for a meaning that contradicts the Shariah.

2) No possible harm could come out of using a particular terminology.

There is overlap in the above points, but the gist is clear. There is no need to furnish scholarly references here, as this is pretty common sense.

Yet, there appears to be an incredible amount of stubborn resistance by some Muslims who are comfortable and loose with using terms such as “ Islamic feminism” and “Islamic secular” either because they have discovered some fringe definition for these terms somewhere that does not contradict Islamic beliefs, or because they have concocted their own definitions by applying so many caveats to the prevalent meanings to the point where they have been stripped of their essential Islamically-problematic connotations.

The problem here is that these Muslims do not clarify what they are talking about every time they use these words. And because they cannot control the fact that people will not listen to or read all that they say on the subject, they seriously risk confusing people into thinking they have embraced and are accepting of an Islamically-defective concept. Sometimes, that “clarification” never even happens, as the listener might not even bother seeking clarity and would just reasonably presume that the prevalent meaning is being intended and be on his way. Such a person cannot be blamed since he is accustomed to the common definition of the word.

If there is foreseeable harm in using certain terminology like in the case of “secularism” and “feminism,” then these terms cannot be used loosely by saying things like “Islam is compatible with feminism and secularism.” This is at least the case for today. Things could always change in the future when it comes to the prevalent use of these specific words, but today, the fact remains that the prevalent meaning of these terms connote notions Islam deems to be problematic. Other terms might be debatable; however, the point is that we must not forget these essential caveats when dealing with this principle.

When you probe some Muslims who state that democracy, feminism, secularism, etc., are “compatible” with Islam, they respond by defining these terms in a manner that is not commonly understood in the academic literature and the minds of the majority of the general public. So they say something like, “Well, democracy here is understood within the confines of Islam and only apply to voting on matters that are not fixed by Islam.”

With that sort of wordplay, we could likewise say that Islam teaches its own rendition of hedonism with the idea being that we ultimately seek the pleasure of paradise behind our actions or that we aim for spiritual pleasures and the avoidance of psychological harms, etc., or that Islam teaches hate and terrorism with the intention that we hate and terrorize evil people worthy of being hated and terrorized, etc. Obviously, this is absurd.

We should stop misleading people and start using more precise terms when discussing our faith. Anything could be halal if we define it “within Islamic boundaries.” We could virtually take any concept and ‘Islamicize’ it by regulating or broadening it to the extent that it is sufficiently deemed Islamically "compatible."

I get it; someone might try to maintain that there is wisdom or even a necessity in using some of these terms in specific contexts, especially when there are no suitable alternative terms. Nevertheless, it is dangerous to get too lax on this matter. Getting too comfortable using these terms liberally (no pun intended) in all contexts could have ideologically severe consequences just by the sheer confusion it could cause the masses.

Recommended Reading: Is There Such a Thing as “Islamic Feminism”?