for that practice plants doubts in their hearts. Along with their craving for turmoil, they also seek an interpretation whose knowledge belongs to Allah alone; thus their purpose is censured and their desired goal unattainable—much like the abstruse riddles the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade.

What further clarifies the distinction between “meaning” (maʿnā) and “interpretation” (taʾwīl) is the incident of Sabigh, who asked ʿUmar about the oath, “By those that scatter” (al-dhāriyāt). This verse is not one of the passages on divine attributes, and the Companions spoke about its explanation. For example, when Ibn al-Kawwāʾ put the same question to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, ʿAlī disliked it because he saw the questioner’s motive; yet ʿAlī’s followers were unruly and did not obey him with the same deference shown to ʿUmar, so he could not discipline him.

The phrases “By those that scatter” (al-dhāriyāt), “those that bear” (al-ḥāmilāt), “those that flow” (al-jāriyāt), and “those that apportion” (al-muqassimāt) remain ambiguous, for the wording could denote winds, clouds, stars, angels, or something else altogether: the text itself names no subject. The interpretation known only to Allah concerns the particular winds—their identities, measures, qualities, and when they blow—the specific clouds, the rain they carry, and the moment that rain descends, and likewise the precise realities behind “those that flow” and “those that apportion.” Such details are known to Allah alone.

The same holds true for the divine expressions inna (“Indeed We”) and naḥnu (“We”) and similar forms that convey a sense of plurality, over which the Christians went astray. Their basic meaning is clear—they refer to Allah, exalted be He—but the plural wording points to a plurality of attributes, just as the multiple names al-ʿAlīm (the All-Knowing), al-Qadīr (the All-Powerful), al-Samīʿ (the All-Hearing), and al-Baṣīr (the All-Seeing) denote One and the same Being while communicating diverse qualities. So it is with every term whose wording is in the plural.