ABSTRACT
Every reality has an outer and an inner aspect, a visible appearance and a disclosed meaning, an exoteric and an esoteric. All genuine knowledge cannot elude a principle that might be called generalized esotericism. Interpretation enables the Shi'i believer to see a sign of God in each thing and to find in each verse of the Revelation an essential hidden meaning – essential just because it is hidden. Ta'wil appears as a narrative or story but also as a picture or as a structural arrangement of an inner space. It refers to different forms of interpretation. The Shia's are not the only ones to engage in Qur'anic exegesis. As soon as the Qur'anic canon came into being it became absolutely clear that the Book required a science of interpretation. In spite of its many forms, exegesis does possess some constants. The most important is that the subject and object of interpretation are one and the same reality: the imams.
