—finished his remark by saying, “I am one of those firmly rooted in knowledge who know its interpretation.” Mujāhid added, “I went through the entire muṣḥaf with Ibn ʿAbbās, from its opening chapter to its closing, stopping him at every verse and asking him about its explanation.”
From this it becomes clear that the verse in question does not mean that the Qur’an contains anything whose meaning is known only to Allah Most High. On the recitation that pauses at the words “except Allah,” the verse indicates that certain matters in the Qur’an—namely, the ultimate reality and true nature of some things—are known only to Allah. On the reading that continues without a pause, it shows that those firmly grounded in knowledge do understand the meaning of the ambiguous passages that remain hidden from many people.
In either case, there is no contradiction with our earlier assertion that nothing in the Qur’an is devoid of knowable meaning.
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As for the fact that what Allah has told us about Himself is unknown to us in terms of its ‘how’ (kayfiyyah), this is established by both textual and rational evidence.
Textual evidence is of two kinds:
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His statement: “He knows what lies before them and what is behind them, yet they do not encompass Him in knowledge” (al-Baqarah 2:255). The denial of encompassing knowledge here covers His Essence and His attributes alike; thus, none knows the true reality and innermost nature of His Essence—nor of His attributes—except Him, exalted is He.
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Allah has informed us about His Essence and His attributes but has not informed us about their modality, and our minds cannot grasp it. Therefore the ‘how’ remains unknown to us, and it is impermissible for us to speak about it or picture it in our imaginations, for He has said, “Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge; indeed the hearing, the sight and the heart—each of these shall be called to account” (al-Isrāʾ 17:36), and He also says, “Say: My Lord has only forbidden …”