To illustrate what is meant by ta'wil consider these examples...

To illustrate what is meant by ta'wil consider these examples: (1) According to Shi'ah hadith, the verse 2:158, Where ever you maybe, God will bring you all together', pertains to the 313 companions of al Imam al Mahdi (A) whom God will gather in a certain place from various parts of the earth in a single night. (2) According to another hadith the verse 67:30, 'Say: What think you?

If your water (in wells) should have vanished into the earth, then who would bring you running water?' pertains to the ghaybah (occultation) of al Imam al Mahdi (A). Such interpretations, which obviously go beyond the apparent meaning of the Quranic verses, are called ta'wil. [^2] Allamah S.M.H Tabatabai, Usul e falsafah wa rawish e riyalism (The Principles and Method of Philosophy of Realism), Introduction to vol.

I [^3] Muhammad Sulayman Nadawi, Madha khasara al alam bi inhitat al Muslimin, vol. IV, p. 97 [^4] Ibid., p. 135 [^5] Allamah Tabatabai, op. Cit [^6] Ibid, vol. V [^7] Maktab e tashayyu, No. 2 p. 120 [^8] Ibid, p. 126 [^9] Ibid, p. 157 [^10] See Murtada Mutahhari, Ilal e garayesh beh maddigari (The causes of inclination towards Materialism), under the chapter: Naresa iha ye mafahi me falsafiI (The inadequacies of [Western] Philosophical Ideas)…