clarification of wording whose apparent meaning is not intended may be delayed cited His words as evidence:

“Indeed, Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.”

They claimed that a particular cow was intended and that its identification was deferred. This contradicts what has been widely transmitted from the early generations—the Companions and those who followed them in righteousness—namely, that they were commanded to slaughter an unspecified cow. Had they taken any cow and slaughtered it, that would have sufficed. But they made matters difficult, so Allah made matters difficult for them. The word “cow” in the verse is indefinite in an affirmative context and is therefore unrestricted. The context of the Quranic passage indicates that Allah censured them for asking what kind of cow it was. Had a particular cow been intended by the command, they would not have been blameworthy. Moreover, nothing like this has ever occurred in the commands of Allah and His Messenger: that He should command His servants concerning something specific, repeatedly leave its identity unclear to them, and not describe it from the outset by its distinguishing attributes.

They also argued that Allah deferred explaining the terms prayer, zakah, and pilgrimage, and that these terms have linguistic meanings that differ from their meanings in the Sharia. This is mistaken. Allah commanded them to pray only after they knew what was being commanded; the same applies to fasting and pilgrimage. Allah never deferred explaining any of these prescribed acts. A fuller discussion of this issue belongs elsewhere.

As for the claim that the literal meaning is what first comes to mind when an expression is used without qualification, this is among the most unsound views. The reply is: if an expression is only ever uttered with qualifications, then in every instance what first comes to mind is what that particular context indicates. As for its being unqualified, it is never used in speech entirely without qualification. Thus, there is no state in which it is wholly unqualified such that one could ask whether or not it first comes to mind. Moreover, whose mind is meant? For an Arab who understands Arabic speech, there comes first to