Rules for Understanding Qurʾān: Clear and Ambiguous

Allah says: "He is the One who sent down to you the Book, in it are clear verses — they are the foundation of the Book — and others ambiguous" (Qurʾān 3:7).

Muḥkam verses: those whose wording points to meaning with complete clarity, admitting only one interpretation.

Mutashābih verses: those admitting more than one possible reading, whose surface sense suggests something other than the intended.

The rule: Ambiguous is returned to clear — never the reverse. The muḥkam is the mother of the Book.

Example 1: "Every thing will perish except His Face" (Qurʾān 28:88). The surface reading suggests Allah has a physical face. But that clashes with "There is nothing like Him" (Qurʾān 42:11), which is muḥkam. So the ambiguous must be interpreted. Al-Bukhārī himself in his Ṣaḥīḥ glosses this verse: "Except His Face: meaning except His dominion." Every thing perishes but Allah's sovereignty remains.

Example 2: "And the sky, We built it with hands" (Qurʾān 51:47). The surface suggests physical hands. Ibn ʿAbbās said: "With hands: meaning with power." Not physical hands.

Example 3: "The Most Merciful rose over the Throne" (Qurʾān 20:5). Istawā in Arabic admits several meanings — to intend, to overpower, to subdue, to sit. It is forbidden to load the verse with the sense that suggests physical sitting, because "nothing is like Him" is decisively muḥkam. So the obligation is to take istawā in the sense of qahr — overpowering, subduing. Allah is overpowering above everything by His power, not His body. Imām Mālik, when asked about istiwāʾ, said: "The istiwāʾ is known, the how is inconceivable, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is a bidʿa."

Example 4: "The hand of Allah is above their hands" (Qurʾān 48:10). Not a physical hand. His power, covenant, and support are above theirs.

Two valid approaches to mutashābih:

1. Tafwīḍ — saying 'Allah knows best what He meant,' without assigning a specific figurative sense, while definitively rejecting the impossible surface (rejecting corporeality). 2. Taʾwīl — taking the word in a sense befitting Allah consistent with Arabic usage, as Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Bukhārī, and Ibn Ḥajar did.

Both are valid. What is forbidden is loading the corporeal surface and affirming organs, limbs, or direction of Allah.

A major error: tafsīr bi'l-raʾy al-mujarrad — interpretation by bare opinion. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever speaks about the Qurʾān by his unqualified opinion, even if he hits the truth, has erred." The Qurʾān is not interpreted except by one who has gathered the tools of tafsīr.