– An example drawn from commands: ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) related that the Prophet ﷺ frequently said while bowing and prostrating, “Subḥānaka Allāhumma Rabbana wa-bi-ḥamdik, Allāhumma-ghfir lī (Glory be to You, O Allah, our Lord, and with Your praise; O Allah, forgive me),” and she added, “He was interpreting the Quran,” meaning that he was complying with Allah’s directive: “When the help of Allah comes and the victory, and you see people entering Allah’s religion in multitudes, then celebrate the praise of your Lord and seek His forgiveness; for He is ever-relenting” (110:1-3).
One may likewise say, “So-and-so avoids dealing in usury, interpreting Allah’s statement: ‘Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury’” (2:275).
Taʾwīl in this sense remains unknown until the act itself occurs and is perceived in reality.
Concerning His words, “None knows its taʾwīl except Allah, and those firmly grounded in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord’” (3:7), two possibilities exist. Taʾwīl may mean “explanation,” or it may mean “the ultimate outcome of the words in their concrete reality,” depending on whether the reciter pauses at “except Allah” or continues without a break.
• If one pauses at “except Allah,” the intended meaning must be the ultimate reality of the words, for the true essences of what Allah has reported about Himself and about the Last Day are known only to Allah.
• If one continues the recitation, it must signify explanation, because that explanation is accessible to those firmly rooted in knowledge and is not exclusive to Allah alone.
Thus we know that istiwāʾ means elevation and settling; this is the aspect of taʾwīl that is accessible to us. Yet we do not know its modality and the full reality of how it is—this is the taʾwīl that remains hidden from us.
In the same way, we grasp the meanings of the names and attributes Allah has conveyed to us, and we can differentiate between them: we understand what life, knowledge, power, hearing, and sight mean, and so forth.