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Al-Rāzī said: Know that when a word applies equally to two meanings, the mind suspends judgment, as with qur’ in relation to menstruation and the interval of purity between menstrual periods. The real difficulty arises when a word’s original usage makes one meaning more likely and the other less likely, yet the more likely meaning is false and the less likely meaning is true. An example in the Quran is the statement of Allah Most High:

“When We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent inhabitants, but they defiantly disobey within it.” [al-Isrā’ 16]

The apparent meaning of these words is that they are commanded to disobey. The unambiguous passage that clarifies this is the statement of Allah Most High:

“Indeed, Allah does not command indecency.” [al-A‘rāf 28]

This refutes the disbelievers, whose words He reports as follows:

“When they commit an indecency, they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing it, and Allah has commanded us to do it.’”