As for the fact that the created being has no existence except from the Creator—glorified be He—this is true. He is the Creator, Lord, and Sovereign of all beings. Nothing comes into existence except through His power, will, and creative act. He is the Creator of everything, glorified and exalted be He.

The discussion here, however, concerns interpreting the verse in this way. Meanings are either true or false. A false meaning may not be used to interpret Allah’s words. If a true meaning is what the Quran indicates, then it may be used to interpret it. Otherwise, not every sound meaning may be used to interpret the wording merely because of some correspondence, like the correspondence between a dream and its interpretation—even if that correspondence lies outside the ways in which the wording conveys meaning, as is the practice of the Qarmatians and esotericists.

For the meaning conveyed by a word is known through attested usage. The word must therefore have been used in that sense so as to convey that meaning; it is not enough that the word could suitably be assigned that meaning. Only Allah can count the words that could suitably be assigned meanings but have not been assigned them.

This is so according to those who take into account a correspondence between wording and meaning, as do some scholars of speculative theology and rhetoric. As for those who do not take such a correspondence into account, any word could be assigned any meaning. In particular, when it is known that a word has been assigned a meaning and is being used in that sense, construing it otherwise merely because of some correspondence is to lie about Allah.

If, moreover, this contradicts what is known from the revealed law, it is the habitual practice of the Qarmatians. If it does not contradict it, it is the practice of many ignorant preachers and Sufis who offer allusive interpretations that the wording does not indicate