of the discourse, and examples of this will follow, God willing.
Thus, tafsīr is concerned solely with explicating the wording—just as a lexicographer such as the author of al-Qāmūs would define an individual term. Take, for instance, the Almighty’s words: “or until some of your Lord’s signs come. On the day some of your Lord’s signs do come, no soul will benefit from its faith” (al-Anʿām 6:158). The lexical explanation would be: “the day when some of the signs of Allah that demonstrate His power appear,” whereas what is actually intended is the rising of the sun from the west. Here, then, we have a clear distinction between the lexical meaning—that is, the explanation restricted to the words—and the intended semantic meaning. Accordingly, the Quran may be interpreted from two perspectives: a purely lexical interpretation that corresponds only to the wording, and a semantic interpretation that conveys the intended sense. The two may coincide, or they may differ.
If, therefore, we understand the author’s coordination of terms as establishing separate categories rather than providing emphatic synonyms, we would say: by “understanding the Quran” he means grasping the rulings and subtleties it contains; by “knowing its tafsīr” he refers to the wording alone; and by “its meanings” he intends knowledge of what is meant by it.
His statement, “and to discern, within what is transmitted and what is rationally inferred, between the truth and the various kinds of falsehood,” shows—may Allah have mercy on him—that Quranic exegesis is of two kinds: transmitted (naqlī) and rational (ʿaqlī). Rational exegesis, however, must not contradict the transmitted exegesis, for the latter has priority. This is because the intellect can be clouded by doubts and desires that prevent it from reaching the truth, whereas what is transmitted is not subject to that. Nevertheless, some falsehood has entered the transmitted material as well: numerous Israelite reports have been inserted into tafsīr, and fabricated or weak hadiths have also found their way into it. Hence one must learn how to distinguish truth from the various forms of falsehood.
And his words, “and to point out the evidence that adjudicates between the divergent views,” that is, whether—