Chapter Nineteen
On the factors that make it easy for ignorant souls to accept taʾwīl (figurative interpretation) even though it contradicts the clear exposition (1) that Allah has taught mankind and fashioned them to receive.

Taʾwīl, in essence, amounts to opposing (2) human nature and the fiṭra on which the servant was created; for it diverts understanding from its usual, familiar course to something for which there is neither precedent nor acquaintance. Because this is its path, sound natures do not seek it; rather, they recoil from it and reject it. For that reason its advocates laid down principles and prepared inducements that call people to accept it, and these are of various kinds (3):

The first cause is that its proponent presents it garishly adorned—ornate in wording, patch-work in meaning, clad in a robe of eloquence and graceful phrasing. Feeble minds hasten to welcome and admire it, rushing to believe and imitate it. His case resembles that of one who offers a gaudily treated yet fraudulent commodity to someone who lacks insight into its inner reality; he beautifies it before the buyer’s eyes and makes it appealing to him. This is the method adopted (4) by everyone who seeks to market falsehood, for his aim can succeed only by dressing it up, embellishing it, and presenting it to one ignorant of its true nature.

Allah, exalted be He, says (5): “Thus have We appointed for every prophet an enemy—devils from among humankind and from the jinn…” (al-Anʿām 6:112).