What is the original (Judeo-Arabic) of “gates of interpretation are not locked before us” in Moreh Nevuchim?

Question

What is the original phrasing of the "gates of interpretation are not locked before us" (i.e. ולא שערי הפירוש סתומים בפנינו) in Guide to the Perplexed 2:25? That is, what is it in Rambam's Judeo-Arabic?

Answer 1

The word that is translated פירוש is تَأْوِيل taʾwīl, an infinitive from the second form of the root أول. Here are a few of the definitions given in Lane's Lexicon:

-The turning of a verse of the Kurʾan from its apparent meaning to a meaning which it bears, or admits.

-Rendering in a manner not according to the letter, or overt sense; explaining the covert, or virtual meaning; interpreting in a manner not according to the obvious meaning.

-Explaining the meaning of that which is equivocal or ambiguous, i.e., what is not understood without repeated consideration.

It looks like there has been a whole book published recently on this topic: Opening the Gates of Interpreation by Mordechai Z. Cohen. From a very brief skim of a few pages on Google Books, here are a couple of things the author notes:

-In ibn Tibbon's ביאור המלים הזרות, appended to the end of editions of his translation, his explanation for this term is ביאור בדבר שלא כפשוטו.

-In speaking of the opening and closing of gates, the Rambam is drawing on the Muslim idiom 'the shutting of the gate of ijtihad'.

Answer 2

There's an edition containing (only) the original Judeo-Arabic on Seforim Online. The relevant line seems to be this: