“mountain,” “justice,” “injustice,” and “truth.” These words and others like them are understood through their very coinage and need no external aid to make their meanings clear.

An example of a text whose intent becomes known only after clarification is the Almighty’s statement, “And give the zakah” (al-Baqara 2:43). Both the command to “establish” and the command to “give” are, in themselves, ambiguous, yet the Lawgiver has explained them, so that once clarified their wording became manifest.

Acting upon an ambiguous text
It is obligatory for every legally accountable person to resolve to act on the mujmal as soon as its clarification reaches him.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, elucidated for his community every aspect of the Sharia—its foundations and its details—leaving the ummah upon a clear, pristine path whose night is as bright as its day. Never did he withhold an explanation when it was needed.

His clarifications, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came either by word, by deed, or by both word and deed together.

• Clarification by word: his specification of the zakah thresholds and amounts, as in his saying, “On what is watered by the sky the due is one-tenth,” which clarifies the concise command, “And give the zakah” (al-Baqara 2:43).

• Clarification by deed: his public performance of the pilgrimage rites to explain the concise verse, “Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by all people” (Āl ʿImrān 3:97).

Likewise, his eclipse prayer in the manner he performed it is, in fact, a clarification