Misguided Methodology

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ثُمَّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ طَلَبَةِ العُلُومِ مِن أَبْنَاءِ فَارِسَ وَالرُّومِ صَارُوا مُولَعِينَ بِنَوْعٍ مِن جَدَلِ المُموِّهِينَ

Then, some students of knowledge from the sons of Persia and Rome became obsessed with a type of deceptive argumentation.

اِسْتَحْدَثَهُ طَائِفَةٌ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِيِّينَ

Invented by a group of Easterners.

وَأَلْحَقُوهُ بِأُصُولِ الفِقْهِ فِي الدِّينِ

And they attached it to the foundations of jurisprudence in religion.

رَاوَغُوا فِيهِ مُرَاوَغَةَ الثَّعَالِبِ

They maneuvered in it like foxes.

وَحَادُوا فِيهِ عَنِ المَسْلَكِ اللَّاحِبِ

And they deviated from the clear path.

وَزَخْرَفُوهُ بِعِبَارَاتٍ مَوْجُودَةٍ فِي كَلَامِ العُلَمَاءِ قَدْ نَطَقُوا بِهَا

And they adorned it with phrases found in the speech of scholars who have uttered them.

غَيْرَ أَنَّهُمْ وَضَعُوهَا فِي غَيْرِ مَوَاضِعِهَا المُسْتَحَقَّةِ لَهَا

However, they placed them outside their proper contexts.

وَأَلَّفُوا الأَدِلَّةَ تَأْلِيفًا غَيْرَ مُسْتَقِيمٍ

And they composed arguments in an unsound manner.

وَعَدَلُوا عَنِ التَّرْكِيبِ النَّاتِجِ إِلَى العَقِيمِ

And they turned from productive arrangement to barren.

غَيْرَ أَنَّهُمْ بِإِطَالَةِ العِبَارَةِ وَإِبْعَادِ الإِشَارَةِ

However, by lengthening expression and extending indications.

وَاسْتِعْمَالِ الأَلْفَاظِ المُشْتَرَكَةِ وَالمَجَازِيَّةِ فِي المُقَدِّمَاتِ

And using ambiguous and metaphorical words in the premises.

وَوَضْعِ الظَّنِّيَّاتِ مَوْضِعَ القَطْعِيَّاتِ

And placing suppositions in the place of certainties.

وَالِاسْتِدْلالُ بِالأَدِلَّةِ العَامَّةِ حَيْثُ لَهَا دَلَالَةٌ عَلَى وَجْهٍ يَسْتَلْزِمُ الجَمْعَ بَيْنَ النَّقِيضَيْنِ

And using general evidence, where it has a connotation, in a way that requires reconciling contradictions.

مَعَ الإِحَالَةِ وَالإِطَالَةِ

Along with referral elsewhere and prolongation.

وَذَلِكَ مِنْ فِعْلِ غَالِطٍ أَوْ مُغَالِطٍ لِلْمُجَادَلَةِ

This is the work of someone mistaken or deliberately misleading in debate.

وقد نهى النبي ﷺ عن أغلوطات المسائل

And the Prophet ﷺ prohibited intricate questions.