Esoteric interpretation of the Quran () is the allegorical interpretation of the Quran or the quest for its hidden, inner meanings. The Arabic word taʾwīl was synonymous with conventional interpretation in its earliest use, but it came to mean a process of discerning its most fundamental understandings. "Esoteric" interpretations do not usually contradict the conventional (in this context called "exoteric") interpretations; instead, they discuss the inner levels of meaning of the Quran. The Arabic words taʾwīl and tafsīr both mean roughly "explanation, elucidation, interpretation, and commentary"; but from the end of the 8th century CE onwards, taʾwīl was commonly regarded as the esoteric or mystical interpretation of the Quran, while the conventional exegesis of the Quran was referred to using the term tafsīr. The term batin refers to the inner or esoteric meaning of a sacred text, and zahīr to the apparent or exoteric meaning. Esoteric interpretations are found in the Shīʿa, Sufi, and Sunnī branches of Islam and their respective interpretations of the Quran. A ḥadīth report which states that the Quran has an inner meaning, and that this inner meaning conceals a yet deeper inner meaning, and so on (up to seven successive levels of deeper meaning), has sometimes been used in support of this view. Quranic esotericism Traditional scholars agree that some passages of the Quran leave certain ideas implied rather than stated and that, from the outset, the Quran cautions that some verses are literal in meaning, while others, named "mutashabihat", are metaphorical in meaning: "It is God who has sent down to you the book: In it are verses clear (muhkamat), they are the foundation of the book, others are unspecific (mutashabihat)." (Quran 3:7) Esoteric exegesis attempts to unveil the inner meaning of the Quran by moving beyond the apparent point of the verses and relating Quranic verses to the inner and the metaphysical dimensions of consciousness and existence. The exoteric aspect is the literal word, the law, and the material text of the Quran, and the esoteric aspect is the hidden meaning. Esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative and are 'allusions' rather than 'explanations' and indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of each writer. However the Qur'an says this about doing so (Sahih Int. Translation): "As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation