the speaker would have presented them with commands to do wrong, prohibitions against doing right, and commands to believe falsehood, without clarification.

Second, sensory and self-evident knowledge accompanies the address and thus prevents a false understanding from arising in the first place, unlike these conclusions of rational inquiry.

Third, such knowledge is not subject to dispute or disagreement, so it does not lead to the division and discord they have been forbidden, unlike subtle and ambiguous conclusions of rational inquiry.

Fifth, it may be said that Muslims—indeed, all rational people—agree that wherever interpretation is permissible, whether concerning the words of Allah, His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or anyone else, its sole purpose is to infer the speaker’s intended meaning and purpose. Legitimate interpretation does not consist in a person inventing meanings for an expression or construing it as bearing admissible meanings