Sharaf al-Dīn Istarābādī

The disagreement regarding the audience of the Quran among Islamic scholars has led to various interpretations. Among them, Sharaf al-Dīn Istarābādī has a distinctive viewpoint, asserting that the interpretation of ambiguous verses is exclusively meant for the impeccable Imams (AS). Since he considers interpretation to encompass both the apparent and the inner meanings, his opinion is that the audience of the ambiguous (Mutashābih) verses—both in terms of their apparent meaning and inner meaning—are the impeccable Imams. Given the existing differences, this article aims to appropriately judge between these viewpoints by examining the meaning of "Rāsikhūn" based on the "Bun" methodology. The question arises: Is Sharaf al-Dīn's intended meaning validated or not? The investigation has shown that the meaning of "Rāsikhūn" in this verse refers to a special and distinct group of people who possess knowledge of the interpretation of verses, yet the identity of this group remains unclear, as the text does not have the ability to specify its identity. Accordingly, based on the extra-textual context and the perspective of Sharaf al-Dīn, it can generally be established that "Rāsikhūn" are a special and distinct group, specifically the impeccable Imams (AS).