and the person himself is the first to be included among those connected to him.

Allah Most High says:

“Know that whatever spoils of war you gain, one-fifth belongs to Allah and the Messenger.” [al-Anfāl 41]

It is well known that spoils of war are what is taken from the disbelievers through fighting. Muslims’ earnings from trade and crafts are not called spoils of war. Neither the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor any of his caliphs used to take one-fifth of Muslims’ earnings. Some, however, have supposed these earnings to be spoils of war, taken one-fifth of them, and reserved that fifth for a particular group. This is a broad subject.

Once it is understood that ambiguity relative to the reader may arise for some people, it follows that even discourse of the utmost clarity and precision—and any verse, however clear and definitive—may be unclear to certain people. Accordingly, the words of Allah Most High:

“In it are verses that are clear and definitive, which are the foundation of the Book, and others that are ambiguous.” [Āl ‘Imrān 7]

mean that the clear and definitive verses are not ambiguous to those people. Rather, they constitute the foundation of the Book, which they have understood without ambiguity, while other verses are ambiguous to them. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in the hadith recorded in the Musnad and elsewhere:

“The Quran was not revealed so that its parts would contradict one another; rather, it was revealed so that its parts would confirm one another. Act upon what you understand of it, and entrust what you do not understand to those who know it.”