their understanding and knowledge. Those in whose hearts is disease follow what is ambiguous in it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation. Had their hearts been sound, they would have sought what was clear to them and free of ambiguity, and thereby gained knowledge. As for what they found ambiguous, they would, if possible, have referred it back to what was clear to them; otherwise, they would have said, “Allah Most High knows best.”

This is the meaning of the saying, “Its clear verses are to be acted upon, and its ambiguous verses are to be believed in.” For verses that convey information entail acts such as loving Allah, fearing Him, relying upon Him, hoping for His mercy, fearing His punishment, taking heed of the past, and other kinds of action.

No discourse can conceivably be free of these two kinds of ambiguity—ambiguity that arises for some people and specific ambiguity—even if it attains the utmost clarity and eloquence. No discourse is clearer or more eloquent than the Quran. Rather, this is an inevitable consequence of human deficiency, for not everyone can understand every utterance. Glory be to Him who made the Quran easy to take heed of, just as He made it easy to memorize! Its memorization and understanding have been made far easier than those of comparable works. Indeed, the two earlier Scriptures, the Torah and the Gospel, are not memorized or understood even a hundredth as much as the Quran is memorized and understood. The scholarly works people have composed are memorized and understood still less than the revealed Books, for greater care is devoted to the latter, and they are held in greater reverence in people’s hearts.