of the Quran and the Sunnah, their sound reason, and their knowledge of the speech of the early generations and the Arabs, knew with certainty that the ta’wīl claimed by these people was not the meaning of the Quran. For these people displaced words from their proper places, falling into varying degrees: Qarmatians and Bātinīs, who reinterpret both reports and commands; Sabian philosophers, who reinterpret most reports concerning Allah and the Last Day, even those concerning most of the circumstances of the prophets; and Jahmīs and Mu‘tazilīs, who reinterpret some of what has been revealed concerning the Last Day and the verses concerning divine decree, and who reinterpret the verses concerning Allah’s attributes. Some later Ash‘arīs agreed with them regarding what has been revealed concerning certain attributes, and some regarding certain matters of the Last Day. Others from various groups within the Muslim community, though predominantly adherents of the Sunnah, may also reinterpret passages in ways that displace words from their proper places.

Those who claimed knowledge of ta’wīl—including a group among the early generations and Ahl al-Sunnah, and most speculative theologians and adherents of innovation—also saw that the revealed texts indicated that the meanings of the Quran could be known. They considered it a mark of incapacity, a defect, and something reprehensible for Allah to address His servants with words that they read and recite but do not understand. They were correct in the transmitted and rational evidence they adduced. Yet they erred concerning the meaning of the ta’wīl that Allah negated and the ta’wīl that they affirmed. The innovators among them used this as a stepping stone to displacing words from their proper places. The former were thus closer to silence and safety, albeit with a measure of ignorance, while the latter engaged in more discussion and disputation, but with fabrications against Allah and saying about Him what they do not