The interior or hidden
تفسير العياشي عَنْ جَابِرٍ قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ ع عَنْ شَيْءٍ فِي تَفْسِيرِ الْقُرْآنِ فَأَجَابَنِي ثُمَّ سَأَلْتُهُ ثَانِيَةً فَأَجَابَنِي بِجَوَابٍ آخَرَ فَقُلْتُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ كُنْتَ أَجَبْتَ فِي هَذِهِ الْمَسْأَلَةِ بِجَوَابٍ غَيْرِ هَذَا قَبْلَ الْيَوْمِ
Tafseer Al Ayyashi – from Jabir who said,
‘I asked Abu Ja’far-asws about something from interpretation of the Quran. He-asws answered me. Then I asked him for a second time. He-asws answered me with another answer. I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you-asws! You-asws had answered regarding this issue with an answer other than this, before today!’
فَقَالَ لِي يَا جَابِرُ إِنَّ لِلْقُرْآنِ بَطْناً وَ لِلْبَطْنِ بَطْنٌ وَ لَهُ ظَهْرٌ وَ لِلظَّهْرِ ظَهْرٌ
‘He-asws said to me: ‘O Jabir! For the Quran there is ‘بَطْناً وَ لِلْبَطْنِ بَطْنٌ ’ an esoteric (hidden), and for the esoteric, there is an esoteric, and there is an apparent for it, and for the apparent, there is an apparent!
يَا جَابِرُ وَ لَيْسَ شَيْءٌ أَبْعَدَ مِنْ عُقُولِ الرِّجَالِ مِنْ تَفْسِيرِ الْقُرْآنِ إِنَّ الْآيَةَ لَتَكُونُ أَوَّلُهَا فِي شَيْءٍ وَ آخِرُهَا فِي شَيْءٍ وَ هُوَ كَلَامٌ مُتَّصِلٌ يُتَصَرَّفُ عَلَى وُجُوهٍ
O Jabir, and there isn’t anything further from the intellects of men than interpretation of the Quran. The Verse, it’s beginning could be regarding a thing, and its ending regarding a thing, and it is a connected Speech articulated upon (various) aspects’’.[1]
[1] Bihar Al-Anwaar V 89 – The Book of Quran – Ch 8 H 48