except Allah,” he explained “interpretation” as referring to the false interpretations they had given it. In Salama’s report from him, however, he held that those firmly grounded in knowledge know something of the interpretation of the ambiguous verses, and that they referred their interpretation back to what they knew of the interpretation of the clear verses, which admit of only one interpretation.

Thus Ibn Ishāq expressed a view like that of Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Dahhāk, and others who accept both readings: they say that it has an interpretation known only to Allah and an interpretation known to those firmly grounded in knowledge. Likewise, the scholars of Arabic generally who said, “None knows its interpretation except Allah,” such as al-Farrāʾ, Abū ʿUbayd, Thaʿlab, and Ibn