التأويل السـياسي
Explanation:
"Spin" is defined as a "distinctive point of view, emphasis, or interpretation" (American Heritage Dictionary). It is not necessarily malicious or deceptive, but certainly slanted in a certain way. The word تأويل carries a similar coloration.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs 45 mins (2004-10-19 16:13:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
This note is in response to Nesrin\'s comment below:
1. Unlike the word تفسـير, the word تأويل can easily fit in acontexts with negative connotations, and indeed has, just like the word \"spin,\" acquired a negative connotation, over and above its original neutral meaning. Used neutrally, تأويل simply means \"interpretation,\" but especially the interpretation of deeply mysterious phenomenon or impenetrable texts, as in Yusuf, verse 6
وكذلك يجتبيك ربك ويعلمك من تأويل الأحاديث
and as in Al Imran, verse 7:
وما يعلم تأويله إلا الله
The term can and is still sometimes used in this neutral sense, as in:
تأويل النصوص الأدبية
But I hope that everybody can recognize the dark coloration that the word has acquired over the centuries. This negaive sense started when Muslim scholars began to inquire deeply (too deeply?) into the meaning of Quranic verses and Prophetic sayings about Divine attributes. Among the scholars of the early eith century, there were those who chose a cautious approach by refraining from delving into texts that touch upon Divine attributes, so as to avoid the slippery slope that might lead to blasphemy or heresy. On the other hand, there were those who were more daring and less cautious scholars who treated the Quranic and Prophetic texts as fair game for literary analysis, just like any other text. Some of their conclusions were found to be pretty outrageous and rather scandalous. The conservative wing referred to such interpretive activity, which they considered ill-founded from the start, with the term تأويل, giving this term a derogatory tint. Since that time, the word تأويل has kept this potential dark side, and has often been used that way, as when we say:
إنهم يؤولون النصوص و يُحمِّلونها ما لا تحتمل
We thus evoke the hermeneutics of the extreme branches of the Asha-ira and of the Sufi scholars, for instance.
As with the word \"spin,\" the word تأويل can be used negatively without necessarily indicating any malicious or deceptive intent. It can simply mean illegitimatly slanted interpretation to fit a certain ideology or line of thought.
2. The word مراوغة, on the other hand, has nothing to do with interpreting activity, legitimate or otherwise. As commonly used, the word مراوغة means maneuvering in movement or in an argument or a debate, so as to avoid being caught or so as to trick the other party into falling into a trap. That is not what \"spin\" means, as used in political discourse, past or current.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 1 hr 40 mins (2004-10-19 23:09:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Note to the asker:
The article you point to defines \"spin\" as \"the act of interpreting an event in a manner that advances a specific political agenda or limits political liability from a negative event.\" This is an excellent definition. It brings out a fundamental feature of all human discourse, not only blatantly political discourse, namely that it is all interpretive and, therefore, all potentially biased. Biased does not necessarily mean bad, deceptive, or malicious. It just means 1) that our subjectivity cannot be fully divorced from our interpretation of reality; and 2) that the interpretation we proivde is colored not only by our vision, but also by our persuasive intent. Spin is what we all do, but some do it with a genuine intent for a great good, while others do it as a conscious exercise in hoodwinking.
Because of its history, the word تأويل has acquired just enough negativity to match the negativity of \"spin,\" indicating as it does that the interpretation under examination is only some interested party\'s interpretation, and a questionable one at that. To use a stronger term would be to alter the meaning of \"spin\" as defined in the article you pointed to, which is the meaning we know and use.
| Fuad Yahya
Works in field
Native speaker of:  Arabic, English
PRO pts in category: 180
|
|
