understanding until you recognize that the Quran admits multiple interpretations.” Scholars have composed works on “Multiple Meanings and Corresponding Usages.” “Corresponding usages” refers to a word whose meaning is the same in two or more passages, while “multiple meanings” refers to a word whose meaning differs. This is comparable to the distinction between univocal and equivocal terms, although the two classifications differ in a way that calls for fuller discussion elsewhere.

It has also been said: “They correspond in wording, but their meanings differ,” which would make them akin to equivocal terms. This is not so; rather, the correct understanding of “multiple meanings and corresponding usages” is the first explanation.

Muslims, both earlier and later generations, have discussed these different meanings, passages requiring clarification, and passages admitting multiple interpretations. It is therefore known with certainty that Muslims agree that scholars can understand the meanings of the entire Quran. It is also clear that anyone who says that the Quran contains passages whose meaning no one understands or knows except Allah contradicts the consensus of the Muslim community, as well as the Book and the Sunnah.

Eighth: The ambiguous passages are the narratives and parables. Their meaning, too, can be known.

Ninth: They are those passages that are to be believed but not acted upon. Their meaning, too, can be known.

Tenth: Some later scholars say that the ambiguous passages are the verses and hadiths concerning the divine attributes. Their meaning, too, can be known. For, concerning most of the verses on the attributes, there is agreement