Yasir Qadhi statements

1. It is true that the Quran mentions ‘dark’ and ‘bright’ faces

2. It is absolutely incorrect to assume that any racial issues are implied
3. This error goes back to a simple mistranslation and a cultural unawareness of the nuances of
the Arabic language
4. The words used in the Quran are not in the linguistic forms that are associated with the skin
colors of humans

First conclusion
1. Hence, any fluent Arabic speaker would never associate those verses with description of
skin color

Statements

5. These Quranic verbs and nouns are in fact associated in the Arabic language with the
brightness of the day and the darkness of the night
6. Additionally, the cultural connotation of ‘day’ and ‘night’ go beyond colors
7. The brightness of the day is associated with optimism, happiness and overall positive
feelings
8. The darkness of the night is associated with fear, and uncertainty and anxiety

Second conclusion
2. Hence, when the Quran describes the people of Paradise as being ‘bright’, the word
used is in the context of the brightness of the day, not the whiteness of the skin color
And the same goes for the dark

Third conclusion
3. Therefore, it is absolutely incorrect to translate such verses as ‘white’ and ‘black’

Statements
9. White, brown and black skin colors mean nothing for salvation, and this is an established
principle of Islam

Fourth conclusion
4. And of course, people of all skin colors will be ‘brightened’ with the news of Paradise
and ‘darkened’ with the news of the opposite.
Analysis:
Statement 2 uses extreme language ‘absolutely’ and indicates that the premises show
lacking in fairness and completeness. Fairness means we give the benefit of the doubt to
the opposing view and follows the argument till the end to see how it would play out.
The first conclusion also uses strong language ‘never’ and indicates categorical logic. The
problem here both the premises and conclusion are rife with assumption. The
statements assume unfairly that people who think in certain way are attributable to
their lacking in the knowledge of Arabic language and culture. It is possible that there is
another reason for this. The conclusion, which should necessarily follows from the
premises, also assumes that any fluent Arabic speaker would never associate the said
verses with skin color. A valid argument must have true premises and true conclusion. In
this case, both premises and conclusion are problematic

Statements 5,6,7,8 are premises that derive from the author understanding of
connotation and his analysis of emotional process. However, the conclusions which
follow the premises are based on assumption that everyone would see connotation and
Arabic culture in the same way, including emotional process related to the word ‘bright’
and ‘dark’. For the sake of clarity we should avoid this relative interpretation which open
for debate. Especially the use of strong word ‘absolutely’ in the conclusion could be well
derived from his personal belief and does not follow the rules of logic.

Statement 9 can be verified as true premise in Islamic teaching. However, the conclusion
does not follow from the premise. The author assumes that everyone will be brightened
by the news of Paradise and darkened by the opposite news. This is a careless
conclusion based on a singular interpretation. It is not true that everyone will think and
feel the same way as the author does in regard of bright and dark news. One
interpretation cannot cover the diverse interpretation of Quranic reading.

It seems that there are problems in connecting premises and conlusions. Sometimes
because of inaccuracy of the language, the use of strong and extreme word,
unsupported assumptions, omitting alternative evidence, and weak argument in its
entirety.