Since that is so, no one may assert categorically that whatever he and those more learned than he have been unable to understand must reflect a deficiency in the explanation or a failure to mention what indicates the intended meaning. Rather, all of this may be due to the listener’s limited knowledge.

The second response concerns his statement: “The real difficulty arises when a term, according to its original linguistic designation, favors one of two meanings over the other, yet the less likely meaning is true and the more likely one is false.”

The reply is that one meaning is favored by the term’s original linguistic designation only when it is unaccompanied by a contextual indicator. Thus, when used without qualification, the words “lion,” “donkey,” “sea,” and “sword” are more likely to mean the predatory beast, the animal, water, and iron, respectively. But if it is said of Khālid that he is a sword that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has drawn against the polytheists, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported to have said,