Whatever the Jews talked...

Whatever the Jews talked, it contained no malice because, even if the religion, din, of Islam was for a limited period of time (and, thus, subject to abrogation), their remarks would in no way be a criticism of the purity and reality of Islam considering that all religions revealed by God prior to Islam were for a specific period and open to abrogation.

Secondly, this view implies that the word ta'wil (which may be translated as "interpretation") in the verse refers to a meaning other than the apparent literal meaning and that it is used only as a reference to the implicit verses.

This is correct, as we shall see in a later chapter dealing with exegesis Ta'wil, and revelation, Tanzil (the actual text or letter of the verse) how exegesis in Qur'anic terminology does not refer to one meaning but to several, encompassing such terms as realization, fulfillment, interpretation and explanation. We shall also discuss how all-Qur'anic verses have a specific interpretation, ta'wil and not just their explicit and implicit definitions.

On examination, the words of the explicit verses (ayah muhkamah), are seen to describe the phrase "They are the source of the Book," meaning that the explicit verses include the most important subjects of the Book, and the theme of the rest of the verses is secondary and dependent upon them. This implies that the real point intended to be conveyed by the implicit verses refers back to the explicit verses.

Thus, the meanings of the implicit are illuminated by referring back to the source (or explicit) verses. Thus we are left with no verses which have no obvious indication as to their true meaning; they are either immediately clear by virtue of their being in the class of explicit verses or, in the case of the implicit, made clear by the other explicit verses.

As for the muqatta'ah-letters at the beginning of the chapters, they do not have any apparent meaning since they are not words in the normal sense and possess no meaning comprehensible to man; thus, they are outside of the classification of explicit and implicit. Again, we would refer the reader to an examination of the following verse in order to emphasize the truth of our view: "And so why do they not reflect upon the Qur'an or are there locks upon their hearts.

" And, likewise, the verse, "and why do they not reflect upon the Qur'an, of it were from other than God they would have found much inconsistency in it.