A journey through the nature of doubt in Latin, Greek and Arabic Languages – Part 2

In the previous post, we’ve discovered that the act of doubting is in itself associated with the existence of two points that might work as a symbol of the mind’s lack of power to judge and choose accordingly.

II Part -Halting doubt

I am now going to narrate the part of my journey where I stopped to analyze one of the Arabic words that is used in the Qu’ran to convey the meaning to doubt. The word shakin is one of several built around the root شك (shk), that, in relation to a thing, affair, or case, denotes the quality of being dubious, and the act of doubting, wavering or vacillating in opinion.

But there was one other meaning in the root that caught my attention… an inconspicuous meaning that brought to my mind a verb that’s present in my native language… the meaning that, when applied to a camel, denotes he limped, halted, or had a slight lameness. Through Latin inheritance, Portuguese verb claudicar (derived from Latin claudico) gives testimony to this same association¹, that is, to limp and, metaphorically, to vacillate. It all begins in claudus, whose meaning limping, halting, lame, was used metaphorically to name that which is imperfect, defective or untrustworthy. But there’s more to add to this… the fact that this adjective claudus describes the one who has suffered the effects of verb claudo, to close, shut up, confine – so that claudus properly means shut in, hampered.

In short, we are invited to look at doubt not only as an impediment to proceed but also as an enclosure where the mind is shut in, which in turn suggests that the wavering has stopped. So, are شك and claudico telling us of a special, distinct form of doubt that is not assimilated with wavering?; that is, on the contrary, associated with a cessation of motion?
Some of shakin‘s occurrences in the Qu’ran lead me to conclude that this Arabic root is not conveying the meaning of doubt as a wavering, a vacillation of the mind, but instead it’s defining this specific doubt as the one that’s already settled in the mind, as it is clearly perceptible in chapter 4, ayat 157: “And [for] their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption.”.

¹Present in English as well through halt, to proceed or act with uncertainty or indecision; and to limp or hobble

In the next post, I will try to show how suspicion itself is not to be trusted by the same mind that has chosen it as an answer to doubt.

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