perceive the doubts that arise in this matter, especially when these things are left in their apparent sense in revelation. These are the majority—the general public.

Another group knows the true nature of these things: those firmly grounded in knowledge, who constitute a minority. A third group has encountered doubts concerning these things but has been unable to resolve them. They are above the common people but below the scholars. It is for this group that ambiguity exists in revelation, and they are the ones whom Allah Most High has censured.

For scholars and the general public, however, there is no ambiguity in revelation.

It is in this sense that “ambiguous” should be understood. What this group experiences in relation to revelation is comparable to the effect of wheat bread, for example: although beneficial nourishment for most bodies, it may harm a few, while remaining beneficial to the majority. Likewise, learning from revelation benefits most people but may harm a few.

This is what is indicated by His words, Most High:

“And He misleads none thereby except the defiantly disobedient.”

[al-Baqarah: 26]

Yet this occurs only in a few verses of the Noble Book and among a minority of people. Most such cases concern verses conveying information about things in the unseen that have no counterpart in the observable world. They are therefore expressed through those things in the observable world that are closest to them and resemble them most. Thus, it happens to some people that