Wadʿ

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Wadʿ ( Arabic وضع' DMG waḍʿ  ' setting, setting up, shaping ') is a term from the Arabic - Islamic philosophy of language that has also gained great importance within Islamic legal theory ( uṣūl al-fiqh ). It describes the act by which a group of sounds ( lafẓ ) is made into a sign ( dalīl ) for a certain meaning ( maʿnā ). Wadʿ thus roughly corresponds to the scholastic Impositio nominis ad significandum . In the context of the Wadʿ doctrine, language is understood as a system of individual Wadʿs.

Terminology

By Wad' a sign relation (is between sound group and significance dalāla ) manufactured within which the volume group as the designator ( Dall ), and the significance as the Designated ( madlūl acts). A sound group to which a certain meaning has been assigned is called mauḍūʿ ("set up, stamped"), the meaning to which the sound group has been assigned is called mauḍūʿ la-hū ("object of set up, stamping"). A sound group to which no meaning is assigned is called muhmal ("neglected, unused").

The Arabic theories about the origin of the language

The idea of ​​wadʿ as a primary positing of language has only established itself over other theories over time. Until the early 10th century the "naturalistic" theory was predominant, according to which the sign relationships between groups of sounds and meanings arise through natural affinity ( munāsaba ṭābiʿīya ). The main proponent of this naturalistic theory is the Muʿtazilit ʿAbbād ibn Sulaimān (died approx. 864). In contrast, the Muʿtazilit Abū Hāschim (d. 933) held the theory that language comes about through pure agreement and convention ( istilāh ), whereby the names assigned to things are arbitrary . The contrast between the naturalistic point of view'Abbāds and conventionalistic view Abu Hāschims corresponds approximately to the physique - Thesis debate the Greek philosophy of language, as in Plato's dialogue Cratylus reflected. Wadʿ corresponds to the word thesis , the Arabic term tabʿ to the word physis .

In addition to the naturalistic and the conventionalistic, there was also a revelationist theory about the origin of language, which was based on the Koranic statement in Sura 2:31, according to which God taught Adam the names of all things. The main proponent of this theory, according to which God himself is responsible for establishing the sign relationships between groups of sounds and meanings, was the Muʿtazilit al-Jubbāʾī (d. 915/6).

In later times there were many attempts to balance the conventionalist and the revelationist view. For example, the scholar al-Mutahhar ibn Tāhir al-Maqdisī (d. 966), who worked at the court of the Samanids , said that the wadʿ takes place on the basis of the agreement of the people, but only on the basis of a preceding speech ( kalām sābiq ) of God.

Wadʿ in Islamic legal theory

Within Islamic legal theory, the Wadʿ concept was given an important meaning because the principle was developed here that the interpretation of the Koran and Sunna first had to be based on the actual meaning ( haqīqa ) of the words established by Wadʿ . Only if the context ( qarīna ) pointed out that the word at that point in a figurative sense ( Madschāz was) used, could be relied on in interpreting this secondary meaning. The question of which meanings of the words were justified by Wadʿ thus became relevant for the establishment of standards. In the course of time, however, the Wadʿ term lost its restrictive character as its meaning was expanded to include all forms of term formation. Wadʿ was therefore no longer just a primary assignment of meaning in the context of the formation of a language, but other assignments of meaning were now also included. Wad' to the types that have been discussed, including by the Sharia completion Wad' ( waḍ' šar'ī ), completion by local custom Wad' ( waḍ''Urfi'āmm ), technical language Wad' ( waḍ''Urfi Hass ) and personal Wad' ( waḍ' šaḫṣī ). Some scholars of the Salafi school also completely questioned the concept of primary, all-inclusive meaning assignment. So said Ibn Qayyim al-Dschauziya that a Wad' never absolute ( Mutlaq ), but always tied to only one context ( muqayyad could take place).

ʿIlm al-wadʿ as a separate discipline

From the 14th century, reflection on wadʿ developed into a linguistic discipline of its own, known as ʿilm al-wadʿ . The basic work is considered to be a short tract with the title ar-Risāla al-wadʿīya by nAdud ad-Dīn al-Īdschī (d. 1355), on which numerous Muslim scholars wrote commentaries and glosses in the subsequent period.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Haarmann 152.
  2. ↑ See Ali 7.
  3. ↑ See Haarmann 153.
  4. ↑ Cf. Fleischer 488.
  5. ↑ See Weiss 1974, 37.
  6. ↑ See Weiss 1974, 34f.
  7. ↑ See L. Deitz: Art. "Physis / Thesis" in Historical Dictionary of Philosophy, Vol. VII, p. 968f.
  8. ↑ Cf. Fleischer 488.
  9. ↑ See Weiss 1974, 36f.
  10. ↑ According to the definition of Anke von Kügelgen, the revelationist theory regards language as originally revealed to man by God and regards God and not man as the namesake of things. Source: Anke von Kügelgen: Human convention and divine setting . In: Logic and Theology: The Organon in the Arabic and Latin Middle Ages. Ed .: Dominik Perler, Ulrich Rudolph. Brill Academic Pub, 2005 ISBN 978-9-00411-118-9 p. 200.
  11. ↑ Cf. Cornelia Schöck: Adam in Islam. A contribution to the history of the Sunnah . Berlin 1993. pp. 196f.
  12. ↑ See Ali 70f.
  13. ↑ See Ali 73-75.
  14. ↑ See Ali 16, 23.
  15. ↑ See Ali 100f.
  16. ↑ Cf. Carl Brockelmann : History of Arabic Literature . 2nd volume. 2nd ed. Leiden 1949. pp. 268f.