The claim: "The Qur'an has mutashābih (ambiguous) verses (3:7). Understanding them requires explanation from outside the Qur'an (sunnah/tafsir); so the Qur'an cannot explain itself."
What does 3:7 say?
- Most of the Qur'an's verses are muḥkam (clear) and are "the mother of the Book"; the mutashābih are the minority. The Qur'an's backbone is clear.
- 3:7 censures those who chase the mutashābih to "sow discord and interpret it by whim." The remedy it offers is not an outside source but to say "it is all from our Lord" and return to the clear verses.
The Qur'an deems itself self-clarifying
- "We have made the Qur'an easy (to grasp)." (54:17)
- "Had it been from other than God, they would have found much contradiction in it." (4:82)
- Its clarification too is upon God (75:19); the Book is "a clarification of all things" (16:89).
An honest limit
Fact: some verses are ambiguous (mutashābih). Inference: "therefore a binding explanation from outside is required." That is an interpretation — the Qur'an-centred reading proposes understanding the mutashābih in the light of the muḥkam and in context (interpreting the Qur'an by the Qur'an). Both approaches are sourced; the existence of ambiguous verses does not change the fact that the Qur'an's core message is clear.
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented with a text/interpretation distinction.