The first view is that these are particular verses that are ambiguous to everyone. The second—which is the correct view—is that ambiguity is relative: what is ambiguous to one person may not be ambiguous to another. There are, however, clear and definitive verses that are ambiguous to no one. Once the meaning of the ambiguous verses is understood, they cease to be ambiguous. Indeed, the entire discourse is perfected, as He says:

“Its verses have been perfected and then set out in detail.”

This parallels the saying:

“The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are doubtful matters which many people do not know.”

Likewise, they said:

“The cows all seem alike to us.”

Ahmad wrote a book, Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah, concerning the ambiguous passages of the Quran about which they entertained doubts and which they interpreted incorrectly. He explained all those verses and condemned them for misinterpreting those ambiguous passages. Most of these are well-known verses whose interpretation scholars have discussed, such as the verses about which Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq questioned Ibn ʿAbbās.

Al-Hasan al-Basrī said: “Allah has not revealed a single verse without wishing that it be known what it was revealed about and what was meant by it.”

Those among the early generations who said that only Allah knows the interpretation of the ambiguous passages were also correct. By “interpretation,” they meant matters whose knowledge Allah has reserved for Himself, such as the time of the Hour and the appearance of its signs, the manner of His own Being, and what He has prepared in Paradise for His allies.