impossible and cannot be true. Once this is established, the legally accountable person must be certain that what Allah Most High intends by this expression is not what its apparent meaning suggests. At this point, those who permit non-literal interpretation resort to it, while those who do not entrust knowledge of it to Allah Most High. And Allah grants success.

He also said in his commentary, continuing this section: “At this point, there is no need to know precisely what that intended, less likely meaning is. The only way to ascertain this would be to give preference to one figurative meaning over another, and to one interpretation over another. Such preference is possible only on the basis of textual indications, which are presumptive, as we have explained—especially since the proofs used to prefer one less likely meaning over another are of