Exoteric Commentary from Feyz Kashani's Viewpoint

"Exoteric commentary" is one of the issues discussed by Feyz Kashani in interpreting the Holy Quran and in mysticism. He believed that it has a key role in understanding Quranic verses, traditions, and realities of existence. The present paper tries to review his viewpoint on exoteric commentary and explain its main components using a descriptive- analytical method. The research findings show that he considers exoteric commentary as "generalization of suddenly suggested meaning of utterance and applying the utterance to non-suggested meaning". Through expounding the deep relationship between utterance and meaning, he believes that words have single reality and spirit which may have several instances and forms. In this way, he resolves the mystery of Fourteen Infallible's different commentaries of Quranic verses. He mentions several traditions to explain the possibility of exoteric commentary of Quranic verses and the need for exoteric commentary in interpreting the Quran. According to some of these traditions, we can infer that exoteric commentary can be generalized to outwards of Quran. He believes that the criterion for correct exoteric commentary is using narrative support or rational necessity and that exoteric commentary is exclusive for Infallibles.