while others treat them in precisely the same way, claiming that only certain people are commanded to observe them while others are not—that the common folk are bound by them, whereas the elite are exempt. This is the method of the Bāṭinī heretics, the Ismāʿīlīs, and those of similar persuasion.

[The Second Group: The Allegorical Interpreters]

As for the allegorical interpreters, they maintain that the texts dealing with the divine attributes were not intended by the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to make people believe falsehood; rather, he meant them to convey other meanings.