Honesty and lies in the concept of Al- khabar among ancient Arab scholars

Abstract

: Ancient Arab scholars (linguists, grammarians, rhetoricians, legal theorists, and theologians) focused on studying the meanings of speech and dividing it into declarative and imperative statements. They sought to distinguish between them based on criteria of conformity and the acceptance or rejection of truth and falsehood. The definition of declarative statements and their divisions were among the most prominent problematic issues, generating much debate, and concepts varied according to the schools of thought and sciences to which they belonged. The majority adopted a binary division of declarative statements, while the Mu'tazila and others adopted a tripartite division of declarative statements: true, false, and neither true nor false.

This research aims to uncover the types of truth and falsehood in the concept of declarative statements among ancient Arab scholars, taking the concept of declarative statements and their divisions as a starting point to highlight the efforts and attempts of scholars in investigating this important issue in Arab culture. Accordingly, the research was divided into an introduction, two chapters, and a conclusion. In the introduction, we tried to define the concept of news in language and terminology, and to explain the meaning of news and constructional attribution. As for the first chapter, it was entitled “The concept of news style among ancient Arab scholars.” It included a theoretical study in which we reviewed the efforts of Arab scholars in the issues of news attribution and the division of meanings of speech. As for the second chapter, it was entitled “Criteria for dividing speech into news and construction among ancient Arab scholars.” Then the research was concluded with the most important results.