What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "It is He who has revealed to you the Book; in it are clear verses..."
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The second question, Shaykh, what is the meaning of the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: [Ali 'Imran 3:7]?
The Shaykh : The meaning of that is that the Qur'an, by the wisdom of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has two meanings: an apparent meaning that everyone knows, and a meaning that only those firmly grounded in knowledge know. This refers to the summarized verses that have not been explained, or the verses whose apparent meaning seems contradictory but are not actually contradictory, or something similar to that.
The questioner : What is an example of that, Shaykh? Yes, what is an example?
The Shaykh : Also, fasting, prayer, the sky, and the earth are clear. But there are verses that only the people of knowledge know, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nisa 4:71] If you asked many people what the meaning of "thubatin" is, it would be difficult for them. But the people of knowledge know that the meaning of "thubatin" is in groups, because Allah contrasted it with His saying, "or go forth all together." Yes.
It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muhammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] precise - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific
هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُّحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌThe Shaykh : The meaning of that is that the Qur'an, by the wisdom of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has two meanings: an apparent meaning that everyone knows, and a meaning that only those firmly grounded in knowledge know. This refers to the summarized verses that have not been explained, or the verses whose apparent meaning seems contradictory but are not actually contradictory, or something similar to that.
The questioner : What is an example of that, Shaykh? Yes, what is an example?
The Shaykh : Also, fasting, prayer, the sky, and the earth are clear. But there are verses that only the people of knowledge know, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted:
[either] go forth in companies or go forth all together.
فَانفِرُوا ثُبَاتٍ أَوِ انفِرُوا جَمِيعًا
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 53- ما معنى قوله تعالى هو الذي أنزل عليك الكتاب منه آيات محكمات /سؤال على الهاتف /ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.