“He is Allah in the heavens and on earth.”

If these verses are among those whose meaning we know, they are not ambiguous to us, though they are ambiguous to those who cited them as evidence. Such people should have referred them back to the unambiguous passages they knew. Likewise, Ahmad entitled the book he composed in prison: Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah concerning the Ambiguous Passages of the Quran about Which They Entertained Doubts and Which They Interpreted Incorrectly. Ahmad then explained those verses one by one, demonstrating that they were not ambiguous to him; rather, he made their meaning clear.

Accordingly, those firmly grounded in knowledge know the interpretation of these ambiguous passages—that is, their explanation. As for interpretation in the sense of the reality as it actually exists, none but Allah knows that. Yet it may be said that this relative ambiguity is not the ambiguity mentioned in the Quran, for Allah has stated that none but He knows its interpretation. Rather, this is like the verses that many people find difficult because they do not understand their meaning, while others do. Two answers may therefore be given:

The first is that the verse admits two readings: one in which the reader pauses at His words, “except Allah,” and another in which the reader pauses at His words, “and those firmly grounded in knowledge.” Both readings are true. The first refers to what is inherently ambiguous, knowledge of whose ultimate reality Allah has reserved for Himself. The second refers to what is relatively ambiguous, whose explanation is known to those firmly grounded in knowledge; that explanation is its interpretation. Similar instances occur in the Quran, as in His words: “Though their plotting was