The Translation Movement and its Effect on the Validation of Conjectures

The rise of Islamic rulers to translate the works of other nations in the early centuries of the appearance of Islam is known as the translation movement. The influence of this cultural phenomenon on the Muslims' thought is noteworthy and the Muslims' jurisprudential thought is not separated therefrom. In the Islamic jurisprudence, many of the proofs for inferring the verdicts are considered conjectures, while following the conjectures has been strongly condemned in the Holy Quran. This paradox has become a challenge in the course of acting on the basis of proofs of inference. The purpose of this paper is to identify the origin of this paradox and find a way out of it. This paper, which has been prepared by historical-analytical-descriptive method relying on library sources, claims that the above said paradox has happened as a result of the semantic evolution of the terms knowledge and conjecture due to the translation of sciences such as logic. The definitions and attitudes entered into the Islamic world through translation have been proposed initially by some Sunni theologians in opposition to Ahl al-Hadith; however, the views of some Shiite jurists have been affected by them as well.