The Quran is the book of complete truth, and language is a tool to uncover this truth. The Quran has given great importance to the methodology of language in revealing the truth, following every misleading and false discourse by exposing and clarifying its reality to people. It scrutinizes what is contained within such discourse, uncovering the lies and deception.
The Quran supports the language of truth in many ways. It demonstrates certainty over doubt or suspicion; “Indeed, assumption avails not against the truth at all.” (An-Najm: 28) It negates blind imitation of ancestors; “And when it is said to them, 'Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,' they say, 'Sufficient for us is that upon which we found our fathers.' Even though their fathers knew nothing, nor were they guided?” (Al-Ma'idah: 104) It calls for verification through rational and sensory evidence before making judgments; “And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight, and the heart – about all those [one] will be questioned.” (Al-Isra: 36) It places importance on rational proof; “Say, 'Produce your proof.'” (An-Naml: 64) It commands traveling through the land to seek signs of certain knowledge and not to accept impressions blindly; “So proceed throughout the earth and observe.” (Aal-Imran: 137)
The Quran criticizes those who reject its truth, describing them as having abandoned the natural processes of cognition in the human mind, addressing them with a critical language: “Then will you not see?” “Then will you not use reason?” “Have they not traveled?” “Have they not looked?” and so on.
Hypocrites and Linguistic Deception
Hypocrites attempted to subject the logic of prophecy and revelation to the factors of deception by using misleading language to obscure the truth, deceiving the believers with their false words. They claimed faith while they were truly disbelievers in revelation. They adopted a functional language approach (hypocritical), choosing words and phrases that suited each situation to gain benefit and avoid harm.
They alter the names and real meanings of words. For instance, they sometimes claim to believe in Allah and the Last Day and sometimes claim to be reformers on earth. Then they would say that those who believed were the foolish and weak, not worthy of respect, while they consider themselves the elite due to their wealth and influence.
They tried to change the established meanings and significations of words, believing they owned the media and cultural space, the power, and influence in society. They thought only they could determine the appropriate meanings and significations of the words used, and no one could change these meanings or redefine the names they assigned.
However, the Quran revealed the falsehood of their language and words that did not correspond to the meanings they referred to. It clarified in a statement until the Day of Resurrection that they were not believers and that their linguistic deception only deceived themselves by persisting in this misguidance. Their actions among people and on earth – in all its forms – were never acts of reform but of corruption. They persistently tried to portray corruption as reform by altering the meanings and significations of the terms “reform” and “corruption.”
The Quran defines the practice of linguistic deception in society by the hypocrites and the Quranic language’s defense in restoring the meanings and significations of names and terms, i.e., restoring the truth that the hypocrites attempted to obscure in perceptions and concepts. This Quranic clarification partly appears at the beginning of Surah Al-Baqarah: “And of the people are some who say, 'We believe in Allah and the Last Day,' but they are not believers. They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not. In their hearts is disease, so Allah has increased their disease; and for them is a painful punishment because they [habitually] used to lie. And when it is said to them, 'Do not cause corruption on the earth,' they say, 'We are but reformers.' Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive [it] not. And when it is said to them, 'Believe as the people have believed,' they say, 'Should we believe as the foolish have believed?' Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish, but they know [it] not.” (Al-Baqarah: 8-13)
The Bedouins and Linguistic Errors
The Quran also records another scene of linguistic manipulation, using language as desired for deception and general misguidance. This is the scene of the Bedouins claiming faith by saying, “We believe.” Allah says, “The Bedouins say, 'We have believed.' Say, 'You have not [yet] believed; but say [instead], 'We have submitted,' for faith has not yet entered your hearts.” (Al-Hujurat: 14)
This group submitted out of fear of the Muslims’ power and did not believe as required by faith. Fear drove them to say the Shahada (testimony of faith) “There is no deity but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” They wanted to be treated as the emigrants who left their wealth and possessions for the sake of Allah and proved sincere in their migration when migration was considered a bond among the emigrants.
However, these Bedouins remained inwardly disbelievers and deniers of the prophethood and the Quran. They claimed Islam during a difficult year in which they spoiled the pathways to Medina with their filth and raised its prices. They would say to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): “We came to you with our burdens and dependents and did not fight you as others did, so give us from the charity.” They would boast about it! Using the language of faith, the Quran revealed their reality, stating that they had not believed but only submitted out of fear and greed. The term “faith” means obedience to Allah and His Messenger in both private and public, in heart and outward behavior, which was not present in these lying Bedouins’ claim of faith.
The Quran and the World of Anti-truth Language
The Quran clarifies that each word and term has a place, value, position, signification, and meaning. The deceivers replace all these ranks and significations in their discourse to distort human cognition and manipulate the established ranks and significations of words, constructing a language world different from the truth. The danger lies in leaving these manipulators of words and terms in their deceit and deception of the human mind, threatening individual and societal awareness formed through the discourse of truth and threatened by the discourse of lies, linguistic hypocrisy, errors, and manipulation of names and terms.
The deceptive discourse constructs a language world targeting the human mind, building its misleading concepts and terminologies, diverging from the true and accurate meanings and significations of words and terms.
The Quran’s criterion for revealing the errors of this hypocritical language world is the manifestation of behavior, i.e., the expression of the connection between speech and action. The agreement between them means the intrinsic truth of the statement and word, and the disparity between them means the intrinsic falsehood in the sentiment and discourse as a whole; “Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do.” (As-Saff: 3)
The second criterion is the sentiment criterion; “For faith has not yet entered your hearts.” (Al-Hujurat: 14), which aligns with the first criterion and leads to it because a healthy person acts in accordance with what he believes in and avoids everything that contradicts his sentiment and does not believe in its worthiness and merit to strive for it with his limbs and exert effort and sacrifice.
Thus, the Quran’s language reveals the language of this misleading world, which targets the truth primarily, not wanting the mind to reach or believe in any truth. Then it targets human awareness, which is fundamentally based on three truths: the divine truth, the universal truth, and the social truth. If we follow the Quran, we find that the misleading language world seeks to distort these three truths, causing confusion in the human mind in its perception of these truths, preventing the formation of true awareness towards these major truths.
The Quran was aware of these deceptive attempts and sought to clarify, deconstruct, and show their fallacies according to fixed criteria based on reason, nature, and history.
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