What is Ta'weel?

 The term ta'wil is used with one of four meanings intended.

• تفسير المعنى (explanation of the meaning)

This means the clarification of the meaning in the context of the sharia (legislation), the lugha (language) and the 'urf (customs).

This is the meaning intended by Ahl 'l-Sunnah and the scholars of exegesis like ibn jarir al tabari when he says:

القول في تأويل قوله تعالى

• تحقيق الأمر والنهي وتحقيق المخبر به في الواقع (the fulfilment of a command or a prohibition and the fulfilment of what one has been informed of)

If you command X to go and pray, him going and praying is the ta'wil of your command. Likewise, with prohibtions.

Allah says:

هَلۡ یَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا تَأۡوِیلَهُۥۚ یَوۡمَ یَأۡتِی تَأۡوِیلُهُۥ یَقُولُ ٱلَّذِینَ نَسُوهُ مِن قَبۡلُ قَدۡ جَاۤءَتۡ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِٱلۡحَقِّ فَهَل لَّنَا مِن شُفَعَاۤءَ فَیَشۡفَعُوا۟ لَنَاۤ أَوۡ نُرَدُّ فَنَعۡمَلَ غَیۡرَ ٱلَّذِی كُنَّا نَعۡمَلُۚ قَدۡ خَسِرُوۤا۟ أَنفُسَهُمۡ وَضَلَّ عَنۡهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ یَفۡتَرُونَ

Do they only await the fulfilment ˹of its warning˺? The Day it will be fulfilled, those who ignored it before will say, “The messengers of our Lord certainly came with the truth. Are there any intercessors who can plead on our behalf? Or can we be sent back so we may do ˹good,˺ unlike what we used to do?” They will have certainly ruined themselves, and whatever ˹gods˺ they fabricated will fail them. [7:53]

An example for this is regarding the famous verse in Surah 'l-Nasr

فَسَبِّحۡ بِحَمۡدِ رَبِّكَ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡهُۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ تَوَّابَۢا

then glorify the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness, for certainly He is ever Accepting of Repentance. [110:3]

When the Prophet ﷺ heard this command, he began saying in his ruku' and sujud:

سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك، اللهمّ اغفر لي

A'ishah described this as:

يتأول القرآن

where the meaning of يتأول here is that the Prophet ﷺ was fulfilling what he was commanded to do in the verse

Likewise, if someone tells you something is to happen. When it does happen, this is deemed تأويل of that information you were told will happen later.

And we see this in the story of Yusuf when he had a dream:

إِذۡ قَالَ یُوسُفُ لِأَبِیهِ یَـٰۤأَبَتِ إِنِّی رَأَیۡتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوۡكَبا وَٱلشَّمۡسَ وَٱلۡقَمَرَ رَأَیۡتُهُمۡ لِی سَـٰجِدِینَ

˹Remember˺ when Joseph said to his father, “O my dear father! Indeed I dreamt of eleven stars, and the sun, and the moon—I saw them prostrating to me!” [12:4]

And then when this dream came true decades later, Yusuf said:

وَرَفَعَ أَبَوَیۡهِ عَلَى ٱلۡعَرۡشِ وَخَرُّوا۟ لَهُۥ سُجَّداۖ وَقَالَ یَـٰۤأَبَتِ هَـٰذَا تَأۡوِیلُ رُءۡیَـٰیَ مِن قَبۡلُ قَدۡ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّی حَقاۖ

Then he raised his parents to the throne, and they all fell down in prostration to Joseph, who then said, “O my dear father! This is the fulfilment of my old dream. My Lord has made it come true. [12:100]

• صرف اللفظ عن المعنى الراجح إلى الإحتمال المرجوح لقرينة (To move a word from the preferable meaning to the preferred probability due to an external factor)

This is the Ta'wil practised by ahl 'l-kalam and Usulis.

Its usage is false when applied to Allah's names and Attributes and termed tahrif by ahl 'l-sunnah

• بيان الحكمة الخفية (clarification of a hidden wisdom)

This is found in the story of Musa and Khidr when khidr said:

وَأَمَّا ٱلۡجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَـٰمَیۡنِ یَتِیمَیۡنِ فِی ٱلۡمَدِینَةِ وَكَانَ تَحۡتَهُۥ كَنز لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَـٰلِحا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَن یَبۡلُغَاۤ أَشُدَّهُمَا وَیَسۡتَخۡرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحۡمَة مِّن رَّبِّكَۚ وَمَا فَعَلۡتُهُۥ عَنۡ أَمۡرِیۚ ذَ ٰ⁠لِكَ تَأۡوِیلُ مَا لَمۡ تَسۡطِع عَّلَیۡهِ صَبۡرا

“And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and under the wall was a treasure that belonged to them, and their father had been a righteous man. So your Lord willed that these children should come of age and retrieve their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do it ˹all˺ on my own. This is the explanation of what you could not bear patiently.” [18:82]

Ta'wil here refers to the clarification of the wisdoms and the honorable goals behind why he (i.e., khidr) did what he did.

How do ahl 'l-Sunnah deal with Ta'wil?

It is important to note that Ta'wil is not outright accepted by Ahl 'l-Sunnah and neither is it outright denied or rejected.

In fact, this is a point shared by all sects attributed to Islam.

The khilaf therefore revolves around what constitutes valid ta'wil and what constitutes invalid ta'wil

For a Ta'wil to be valid, four points are needed:

• that the meaning you're going to move towards in making ta'wil of a phrase must be linked to that phrase linguistically or by legislation (sharia) or by custom ('urf)

This means that you cannot practise ta'wil on a nass (نص) as it can only have 1 meaning.

For example, when Allah says:

تِلۡكَ عَشَرَة كَامِلَة

This can only carry one meaning. You can't do ta'wil of this to anything other than this one meaning.

• that there is nothing in the context of this passage that prevents this ta'wil being done

For example, in the verse:

إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَة

We cannot make ta'wil of the term ناظرة to mean "waiting for their lord" and say the word is rooted from الانتظار (to wait) and not النظر (to see)

This is because we have the term إلى in the context of this passage and whenever إلى and نظر come in the same context, what's being referred to is looking with the eyes and not waiting.

Hence, the context here prevents that ta'wil being made by the Mu'tazilah.

So, the verse reads "toward their lord, looking"

• there must be an evidence or an external factor that supports the meaning you want to use as ta'wil of a term

• this evidence or external factor must be safe from any equal or stronger counter evidences or factors

Let's take an example where these points are applied together.

Allah said:

نَسُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ فَنَسِیَهُمۡۚ

They neglected Allah, so He neglected them. [9:67]

The meaning of نسي in this context is to neglect and not to forget.

The term نسي can accept two meanings:

1. To forget something or to err
2. To abandon or neglect something

However, in this verse, it is explicit that the intended meaning is the latter not the former meaning.

Why?

Take the first point we mentioned:

"that the meaning you're going to move towards in making ta'wil of a phrase must be linked to that phrase linguistically or by legislation (sharia) or by custom ('urf)"

The meaning we're taking the word نسي to mean is linked to the phrase linguistically.

Take the second point we mentioned:

"that there is nothing in the context of this passage that prevents this ta'wil being done"

There is nothing in the context of this passage that prevents us from carrying this meaning upon the word نسي in the verse

Take the third point we mentioned:

"there must be an evidence or an external factor that supports the meaning you want to use as ta'wil of a term"

We do have an evidence/external factor that supports the meaning we want to use as ta'wil of the word نسي in this passage.

And they are:

1. The consensus of the scholars and the Muslims that Allah does not Forget since forgetfulness is an attribute of deficiency in the creation. And Allah is transcendent from all deficiencies in the creation.
2. The explicit verses that negate forgetfulness and erring from Allah such as لا تأخذه سنة ولا نوم and وما كان ربك نسيا and لا يضل ربي ولا ينسى

Take the fourth point we mentioned:

"this evidence or external factor must be safe from any equal or stronger counter evidences or factors"

Yes, this evidence is safe from any counter evidence and it has nothing equal or stronger than it.

Therefore, this is a valid Ta'wil and in reality it is actually a Nass i.e., we cannot understand this passage except in this way and there is no other possible meaning.

Ta'wil, like that of Ahl 'l-Kalam, which does not fulfil these conditions are considered Ta'teel or Tahreef.