contradict the Quran and the Sunnah and are therefore to be rejected. Thus, whenever a group is challenged over its innovations, it cites another group’s innovations in its own defense, as can be seen in the terminology used by adherents of juristic opinion, speculative theology, and Sufism.

A verse may be described as problematic and ambiguous only when it is thought to conflict with other clear, unambiguous verses. If clear, unambiguous texts establish something, and another text appears whose apparent meaning is thought to contradict it, this is a case in which the ambiguous must be referred back to the unambiguous. But when the Quran or the Sunnah expresses a single meaning, it is impermissible to make the opposite meaning the foundation, then treat what is in the Quran and the Sunnah as problematic and ambiguous, thereby rejecting what they indicate.

Admittedly, many people may find certain texts difficult because they do not understand them. Such texts are problematic relative to those people because their understanding falls short of grasping their meanings. Nothing in the Quran can contradict plain reason or sensory perception without the Quran itself explaining its meaning. Allah has made the Quran a healing for what is in people’s hearts and a clarification for mankind, so it cannot be otherwise.

Yet traces of the prophetic message may become obscure in certain places and times, until people no longer know what the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought. They may be unfamiliar with its wording, or they may know the wording without understanding its meaning. They then fall into a state of jāhiliyyah (ignorance) because the light of prophethood is absent. From this arise polytheism and the division of religion into sects, as with the strife that leads to armed conflict. Thus, strife in word and deed