Two Types of Quranic Verses; Muhkam & Mutashabeh
Verse 7 of Surah Al-Imran points to this categorization: “It is He who has sent down to you the Book. Some of its verses are precise in meaning they are the foundation of the Book and others obscure. Those whose hearts are swerving with disbelief, follow the obscure desiring sedition and desiring its interpretation, but no one knows its interpretation except Allah. Those who are wellgrounded in knowledge say: 'We believe in it, it is all from our Lord. And none remember except those who are possessed of minds.”
Accordingly, verses of the Quran can be put into two categories of muhkam and mutashabeh. The former refers to verses that bear a clear meaning and what they refer to can be clearly understood without any serious challenge. However, mutashabeh verses are somehow obscure as one can attain several meanings from them. The Holy Quran introduces muhkam verses as a source and reference for interpreting mutashabeh verses and reminds us that following mutashabeh verses without referring them to muhkam ones will lead to misguidance.
Muhkam verses
These are the verses that the reader will have no doubt in their meaning and the concept of the verse is clear and unambiguous.
Mutashabeh verses
These are verses whose intention and meaning are not clear and the concepts inside them bear uncertainty. The first perception that comes to the mind of the reader after such verses is in contravention of muhkam verses of the Quran.
The uncertainty in the meaning of mutashabeh verses is not due to words or sentence structures as these types of ambiguities can be solved by referring to the Arabic language rules and literature. Rather, the uncertainty in their apparent meaning is due to their contrast with muhkam verses. The only way to find the true meaning of such verses is by interpreting them based on muhkam verses.
For instance, verse 59 of Surah Al-Furqan reads: “He established His domination over the Throne.” At the first glance, readers perceive that God Almighty is sitting on a throne like other kings but after considering this verse “There is certainly nothing like Him” (Surah Ash-Shura, verse 11), they will understand that sitting on a throne is a feature for material objects but God is free of this feature; therefore, they will conclude that the former verse refers to the God’s domination over the world.
Another example is verses 22-23 of Surah Al-Qiyama: “On that Day there shall be radiant faces, gazing towards their Lord.” One may think that individuals can see God by their eyes but there is verse 103 of Surah Al-An'am: “No eye can see Him, though He sees all eyes. He is the Subtle, the Aware.” Reading the latter, one understands that “gazing” here does not mean the act of seeing but an internal perception.
