He it is who revealed to you the Book wherein are verses [that are] clear forming the Mother Book and others [that are] allegorical. As for those in whose hearts is deviation they follow the allegorical part desiring sedition and desiring its interpretation and none knows its interpretation save God. And those firmly rooted in knowledge al-rāsikhūn fī l-ʿilm say “We believe in it; all is from our Lord”; yet none remembers but people of pith. He classified the [divine] speech for them: In its exoteric sense its revela- tion is clear fa-min ẓāhirin wāḌiḥu tanzīlihi and in its obscure sense its interpretation is difficult wa-min ghāmiḌin mushkilu taÌwīlihi. The first portion is for explaining the law and to guide the people of the exoteric sense. The second portion is to protect the disclosure of secrets from the view of outsiders. The way of the scholars ʿulamāÌ is firmly rooted rusūkh in seeking its meaning in conformity with the basic foundations uṣūl [of the religion] and what is attained by [this type of] inquiry is accepted. They leave that which cannot be known by mental examination fikr to the world of the unseen. The way of the people of allusion ishāra and understanding fahm is to listen with the presence of the heart ḥuḌūr al-qalb. The glimmers of information that come to their understanding are based on the allusions of unveiling ishārāt al-kashf. If they have been asked to maintain the veil and conceal the secret they feign dumbness. If they have been commanded to reveal and disseminate they give voice to the explanation of the Real and speak of the information of the unseen. Those who have been sup- ported by the lights of insights are illuminated by the rays of the suns of understanding. Those who are clothed in the covering of doubt have been denied the subtleties of realization. Their states are fractured conjectures assail them and they are swept away in torrents of doubt and deception. Their ignorance only increases their denial and their estrangement only increases their uncertainty. And none knows its interpretation save God: The faith of those who find their knowledge from God will not suffer from meandering thoughts that permit [questionable interpretation]. Rather [their faith will be based] upon clear statements of plain meaning and sincere articulations of cer- tainty. Those with clear intellects aṣḥāb al-ʿuqūl al-ṣāḥiyya are among those who remember ṣuḥbat al-tadhakkur because of the appearance of demonstrative proofs and the careful examination of the principles of obtaining [knowledge].
