—and a catapult was erected against the Sacred House on the strength of interpretation. Then came the turmoil of Ibn al-Ashʿath, and those Muslims who were slain at Dayr al-Jamājim (1)(2) were slain because of interpretation. After that erupted the sedition of the Khārijites—how many wars and how much harm did the Muslims suffer at their hands!—all on account of interpretation (3). Next arose Abū Muslim (4); his killing of the Umayyads and those momentous wars likewise rested on interpretation. Then followed the risings of the ʿAlawīs, and the killing, imprisonment, and exile they endured, all under the banner of interpretation—along with countless other events in Islamic history that interpretation has dragged in its wake.

Nor was Mālik flogged and paraded about except through interpretation; nor was Imām Aḥmad scourged and his death sought except through interpretation; nor was Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Khuzāʿī (5) executed except because of interpretation; nor did the ordeal that befell Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād al-Khuzāʿī (6)—to the anguish of the people—occur for any reason other than interpretation.