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He then said: “As for the introduction, its purpose is to establish that all the sects of Islam acknowledge that some Quranic passages and transmitted reports require interpretation that departs from their apparent meanings.”

He then presented nineteen arguments, following the texts he had cited as indicating the negation of corporeality. His discussion in the two passages is similar. Here he claims consensus on interpreting some passages contrary to their apparent meanings. His point is that such interpretation is a matter of consensus in principle: whoever rejects it categorically would be opposing the consensus, whereas whoever accepts it in principle would have an argument in his favor.

By the term “interpretation,” he means turning an expression away from its apparent meaning to another meaning on the basis of evidence.