using it as a designation for the less probable meaning of an expression, while excluding its explicit, apparent meaning from what they call ta’wīl.

Thus His words, “Are they waiting for anything but its fulfilment?” refer to the fulfilment of what He has foretold. This fulfilment contradicts neither the apparent meaning of the wording nor its explicit sense. Rather, it accords with the apparent meaning of what Allah Most High has foretold. The apparent meaning of Allah’s report—Mighty and Majestic is He—concerning His promises and threats indicates a particular meaning; the ta’wīl of that discourse is that meaning as it actually exists in external reality.

If it is said that those firmly grounded in knowledge know its ta’wīl, this means that they understand what has been reported concerning that reality and grasp the meaning of the discourse—that is, they know its explanation. They understand the report concerning its fulfilment and know the reality of that fulfilment, even if they do not know its manner, extent, or time. They may know some of these aspects but not others, just as the angels are known in general terms, yet we say:

“None knows the hosts of your Lord except Him.” [al-Muddaththir 31]

Thus, something may be known in one respect but not another. When it is said that they know the ta’wīl, they know what the discourse indicates to them and what it enables them to understand, as Mālik said, “The rising over is known.” What lies beyond that, however, belongs to the ta’wīl that they do not know, such as the manner of the rising over, concerning which he said, “The manner is unknown.”

Among the things that clarify the meaning of ta’wīl in the speech of the Companions, who spoke