Arabic → English transcript

The modernists want to replace this Quranic epistemological system in theses

and scientific discussions and debates with another system,

which is Western hermeneutics— interpretation as

contemporary Western philosophy sees it, and the strongest thing they said

about this is: the author is dead,

and the original role belongs to the recipient,

to the listener. Meaning, for us to interpret what

the speaker says and understand it however we wish. And this is an excessive

and distasteful exaggeration of the listener’s role, as we will see.

The listener does have an essential role,

but he does not impose his own thinking on the thought

of the original speaker or the originator of the theory.

Rather, the one who makes a statement— no statement is attributed to someone

who is silent, but if he speaks and talks,

then he is responsible for what he says. And we receive it with our

intellectual freedom, and we use this freedom to accept or reject.

So these people, in reality,

have done a disservice to the Arab cultural climate,

and wanted a complete break with the heritage.