the Quran into fragments. They say to one another, “Go to the Quran and hadith: ‘If you are given this, accept it; but if you are not given it, beware.’”

“They wish to seek judgment from false authorities, although they have been commanded to reject them; and Satan wishes to lead them far astray (60). When it is said to them, ‘Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,’ you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion (61).” [al-Nisā’ 60–61]

“They say, ‘We believe in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey.’ Then a group of them turns away after that. Such people are not believers (47).” [al-Nūr 47]

“And when they are called to Allah and His Messenger for him to judge between them, a group of them immediately turns away (48).” [al-Nūr 48]

“But if the right is theirs, they come to him in submission (49).” [al-Nūr 49]

They cling to ambiguous statements and abandon what is unambiguous. They set aside the unambiguous texts of the Book and Sunnah, whose meanings admit of no doubt, while claiming to follow the Quran and hadith through the meanings they falsely attribute to them. This is among the gravest instances of following what is ambiguous.

If it is said, “He included it among the ambiguous passages only because of one of the two interpretations: the explanation of al-Samad as the One who has no inner cavity. He himself adopts only the latter interpretation, namely, that He is the Master to whom people turn for their needs,” the reply is: if the two interpretations are contradictory and one of them is correct,