For this reason the leading scholars—such as Imam Aḥmad and others—reproached the Jahmiyyah and those like them who distort words from their proper places, for giving passages of the Quran that seemed ambivalent to them an interpretation contrary to its true sense. Imam Aḥmad, for example, authored a treatise entitled Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah Concerning What They Question of the Ambiguous Verses of the Quran and Interpret Contrary to Its Proper Interpretation.

He censured them precisely because they interpreted the text otherwise than it should be interpreted. In that work he listed verses whose meanings appeared problematic to them—though to others they are perfectly clear—and rebuked them for imposing on those verses a sense that is not theirs. He did not, however, reject interpretation in an absolute sense, as has already been explained. The expression taʾwīl is sometimes used for the explanatory commentary that makes Allah’s intent plain, and this is not blameworthy; indeed, it is praiseworthy. At other times it is used for the ultimate reality that Allah has kept to Himself, and that none but He knows. We have discussed this at length elsewhere.

[The Error of Those Who Categorically Deny Interpretation]

Whoever fails to grasp this distinction ends up in confusion. One group, for instance, declares that any interpretation is illegitimate and insists that every wording must be taken at its surface meaning, adducing as proof the verse: