so the element of return and reversion implicit in it pertains to the noun that follows it, not to the word itself.
When we say “āl of so-and-so,” the reversion attaches to the modifying noun, for the expression is in the comparative form, indicating that it is the final resort and point of reference for others. Its superlative sense shows that it is itself the place to which one reverts, not the one that reverts; for there is no distinction in a thing’s turning back to something else, whereas distinction lies in being the one to which others turn back. Because the form is comparative, it suggests that the word is singled out in being a goal and a refuge, and absolute preference in this respect entails that it be the forerunner, the initiator—Allah knows best.
Accordingly, the taʾwīl (interpretation) of a statement may be: (a) what the speaker directs it toward, (b) what the statement itself ultimately conveys, or (c) what the interpreter has understood it to mean. The tafʿīl verbal pattern can occur without an underlying triliteral verb, as in the verse, “And devote yourself to Him with complete devotion” (Quran 73:8). Hence one may say, tawwala al-kalāma ilā hādhā al-maʿnā taʾwīlan, “he directed the discourse to this meaning as an interpretation,” or taʾawaltu al-kalāma taʾwīlan, “I interpreted the discourse,” or awaltu al-kalāma taʾwīlan, “I gave the discourse an interpretation.”
The verbal noun can function in place of an adjective: sometimes with an active sense, as in ʿadl (just), ṣawm (fasting), and fiṭr (breaking the fast), and sometimes with a passive sense, as in “a dirham struck by the emir” or “this is the creation of Allah.”
Thus, taʾwīl is what a statement has been directed to, or what it will finally convey, or what it has been interpreted to mean. Speech only returns, reverts, settles, and ends at its reality, which is precisely what is intended by it—just as some of the early Muslims said about the verse, “For every tiding there is a point of settlement” (Quran 6:67), meaning: its reality. If the statement is informative, it reverts and returns to the reality of what is being reported; otherwise, it would have no reality, no outcome, and no reference point, but would simply be false. And if it is a request