As for its exoteric forms (suwariha al-zahirah), they are nothing but an example (mathal) to indicate the exemplified (mamthul), a form (surah) to indicate a meaning (ma'na), and a similitude (tashbih) to indicate a reality (haqiqah). And it is not permissible for the rational, discerning expert to make the example the exemplified, or the form the meaning intended by it, or the likeness of a thing the thing itself, as is claimed by the people of the exoteric (Ahl al-Zahir) who follow the ambiguous [verses] (al-mutashabihat) and abandon the firm [verses] (al-muhkamat), as He Almighty informed about them by His saying: {It is He who has sent down to you the Book; in it are verses [that are] firm (muhkamat) - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific (mutashabihat). As for those in whose hearts is deviation (zaygh), they follow that which is unspecific (mutashabihat) of it} (Aal ‘Imran: 7). So it is not permissible to believe in the ambiguous, because God—Glory be to Him—singled out the people of deviation with it by His Almighty's saying: {As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow that which is unspecific of it} (Aal ‘Imran: 7). May God protect us and the believers from that.

And know that Similitude (al-Tashbih), Negation (al-Nafy), and Affirmation (al-Ithbat) are the pillars of Monotheism (Tawhid):