neither understand nor reason, in numerous passages of His Book. Those who follow religious innovations contrary to the Quran and Sunnah claim knowledge, insight, and thorough understanding, yet they are among the most ignorant of matters known through revelation and reason. They devise vague, ambiguous terms encompassing both truth and falsehood, then treat these as clear, foundational principles. Any texts of the Quran and Sunnah that conflict with them they classify as ambiguous texts whose meaning, in their view, Allah alone knows. Their interpretations based on possible meanings are of no avail. Thus they turn conclusive proofs into specious arguments, and specious arguments into conclusive proofs, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

Judge Abū Ya‘lā reported that Imam Ahmad said:

“A clear text stands on its own and requires no explanation; an ambiguous text requires explanation.”

Imam Ahmad also stated this in one report. Al-Shāfi‘ī said:

“A clear text admits of only one interpretation; an ambiguous text admits of several interpretations.”

Imam Ahmad likewise said this. Ibn al-Anbārī also said:

“A clear text admits of only one interpretation; an ambiguous text is open to competing interpretations.”

The response, then, is that the entire Muslim community, its earlier and later generations alike, discusses meanings of the Quran that admit of multiple interpretations. Indeed, those who champion the view that people firmly grounded in knowledge do not know the meaning of ambiguous texts are themselves among those who discuss it most extensively.