the ta’wīl (ultimate reality) known only to Allah.
This is the third kind of knowledge that Ibn Abī Mūsā mentioned as belonging exclusively to Allah.
Ibn ‘Abbās said:
“Quranic explanation is of four kinds: an explanation the Arabs know from their language; an explanation of which no one is excused for being ignorant; an explanation known to scholars; and an explanation known only to Allah. Whoever claims to know the last is a liar.”
This has been discussed at length elsewhere. It has been explained that the term ta’wīl has several meanings according to different terminological conventions: diverting an expression from its more likely meaning to a less likely one; explaining an expression and clarifying its meaning; and the actual reality of a thing as it exists outside the mind. The early generations knew ta’wīl in the second sense and spoke about it. In the third sense, Allah alone knows it. In the first sense, however, it is akin to the distortions of the Jahmiyyah, which the early generations rejected and condemned.
Among the arguments these people advanced was divine decree, and the fact that knowledge and faith come to the servant through Allah’s grace and mercy.
[Continuation of the remarks of ‘Abd al-Wahhāb ibn Abī al-Faraj al-Maqdisī and Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary on them]
‘Abd al-Wahhāb said:
“Furthermore, Allah said concerning the believers:
‘Those are the ones in whose hearts He has inscribed faith.’
Know, then, that faith comes from His bounty, and that He has inscribed it in their hearts. What role remains for reason after that? Reason is merely like someone reading what has been written: if something is inscribed in the heart, reason reads it, just as sight perceives written lines. If nothing is inscribed in the hearts, reason is of no benefit.”
He said:
“We further ask: Did the prophets attain prophethood through their reason, or through Allah’s choosing them and sending the angels to them? If someone says, ‘Through their reason,’ Allah Most High has declared him a liar by saying:
‘Allah chooses messengers from among the angels and from among mankind,’