Chapter Twenty
Clarifying that those who resort to figurative reinterpretation can never establish a textual proof against any opponent

This is one of the gravest afflictions of reinterpretation and one of its crimes against Islam: it neutralizes Allah’s proofs against the people of falsehood when voiced by the interpreters themselves, whereas in truth the proofs of Allah (1) and His clear evidences can never be overturned.

It is well known that whenever a man of falsehood censures his adversary for an error that he himself shares—whether wholly or in kind—he will be unable to rebut his adversary’s argument or demolish his falsehood, because the adversary gains leverage (2) over him with the very same means (3) he has used against the adversary. Such is the condition of the sectarians with one another (4): the most they manage is to expose one another’s contradictions and to shatter each other’s claims. Yet this confers a manifest benefit upon the seeker of truth, for he may content himself with each faction’s refutation of the other.

Thus, whenever the allegorist cites a scriptural proof against a skeptic, the skeptic can readily say, “I too will reinterpret that proof, just as you reinterpreted such-and-such.”

An example is the case of someone who allegorically interprets the narrative attributes and the verses affirming Allah’s transcendence and elevation, then adduces the texts affirming hearing, sight, and knowledge against one who denies those attributes. The latter can reply, “To me these texts must also be reinterpreted, just as you reinterpreted the passages concerning istiwāʾ (Allah’s rising above the Throne).”