[The opponents ultimately resort to interpretation or leaving the meaning to Allah, both of which are invalid. The Sixteenth Argument]

The opponents ultimately resort to interpretation or leaving the meaning to Allah, both of which are invalid.

The Sixteenth Argument

It may be said:

The furthest that these people, who are known as Muslims and oppose the words of Allah and His Messenger with their own opinions, ultimately reach is interpretation or leaving the meaning to Allah. As for those who go so far as to say that the prophets gave people false impressions and made them imagine things that have no actual reality, Muslims recognize them as guilty of heresy and unbelief.

Acceptable interpretation:

This is interpretation that indicates what the speaker intended. The interpretations they put forward are not known to have been intended by the Messenger. Indeed, in the case of most texts, it is self-evident that the meaning intended by these interpretations is the opposite of what the Messenger said. The same is known of the interpretations of the Qarmatians and the Bātiniyyah, without any need for specific evidence.

Thus, if the interpreter’s aim is not to ascertain the speaker’s intent, then interpreting the wording according to a meaning it could generally bear in the speech of Arabs who use similar expressions constitutes distortion and heresy, not explanation and clarification of the intended meaning.

As for leaving the meaning to Allah:

It is well known that Allah Most High has commanded us to reflect upon the Quran and urged us to grasp and understand it. How, then, could we be required to turn away from understanding it, knowing it, and grasping it?