Thus, wherever the term ta’wīl occurs, it denotes what a thing ultimately comes to—its outcome. The ta’wīl of speech is what it ultimately comes to. Speech is either a command, a prohibition, or a report. The ta’wīl of a report is the very thing reported, while the ta’wīl of a command is the very act commanded.

A person may know the explanation and meaning of speech without knowing its ta’wīl, for knowing its ta’wīl requires knowing its actual nature in external reality and distinguishing it from other things. Not everyone who understands speech and its explanation possesses that knowledge. Someone may, for example, know the names of the places and rites of Hajj and have read the Quran, hadith, and scholarly discussions concerning them, yet not recognize the House itself, al-Safā and al-Marwah, Arafat, al-Mash‘ar al-Harām—the Sacred Site—or other such places that a person knows only by seeing them, though they may also be known through learning.

Thus, when Abū Ubaydah mentioned the disagreement between the jurists and certain linguists concerning the manner of wrapping oneself known as ishtimāl al-sammā’, he said: “The jurists are more knowledgeable about ta’wīl.”