And this—Allah knows best—is what Mujāhid meant when he said that the scholars know its ta’wīl. Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī says in his Quran commentary, “Discussion of the ta’wīl of His words, such-and-such,” and, “The scholars of ta’wīl differed concerning this verse,” and similar expressions. What he means is explanation.

The “second meaning” in the usage of the early generations—which is the third sense of ta’wīl overall—is the very thing intended by the speech. If the speech is a request, its ta’wīl is the requested action itself; if it is a statement, its ta’wīl is the very thing being stated. There is a considerable difference between this meaning and the preceding one. In the preceding sense, ta’wīl belongs to the realm of knowledge and discourse, like explanation, commentary, and clarification. It exists in the mind and on the tongue, having mental, verbal, and written existence. In this sense, however, ta’wīl consists of the actual things that exist in external reality, whether past or future.

Thus, when someone says, “The sun has risen,” the ta’wīl of this is its actual rising. Here, “ta’wīl” belongs to the realm of concrete, external existence. The ta’wīl of speech, then, consists of the realities that exist externally, with their actual attributes, affairs, and conditions. Those realities cannot be known as they truly are through speech and reports alone, unless the listener has already formed a conception of them, or of something comparable to them, through something other than speech and reports. Nevertheless, he comes to know of their attributes and conditions to the extent that the speaker has conveyed them to him: whether by drawing