what Allah and His Messenger intended. Rather, in their view, Allah and His Messenger may have intended something else. Such are the interpretations they offer for scriptural texts, as in their explanations of His words:

“And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank”;

the saying, “Our Lord descends”; and His words:

“The Most Merciful rose over the Throne”;

“And Allah spoke to Moses directly”;

“And Allah was angry with them”;

“His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is”;

and other such texts. The most they can say is: “This may mean such-and-such; that meaning is also possible,” and so forth. This is not knowledge of the interpretation. Likewise, anyone who lists opinions and possible meanings concerning a text without knowing what is intended does not know its explanation or interpretation. Only someone who knows the intended meaning knows that.

When one of the heretics claims that revealed evidence does not yield knowledge, the implication of his claim is that no one knows the explanation of either the clear texts or the ambiguous texts, or their interpretation.

This is his own admission that he is not among those firmly grounded in knowledge who know the interpretation of the ambiguous texts, let alone that of the clear texts. If, in addition, their discussions of rational matters contain such sophistry and obfuscation that they provide no proof of the truth, then these people possess neither knowledge based on revelation nor knowledge based on reason. Allah has told us that the people of the Fire will say:

“If only we had listened or reasoned, we would not have been among the inhabitants of the Blaze.”

He praised those who, when reminded of His signs, do not fall before them deaf and blind, and those who understand and reason, and He condemned those who