Does the Qur'an have an outward and an inward meaning?

The terms "apparent" (al-Dhahir) and "hidden" (al-Batin) can carry two meanings: one correct and one corrupt. The correct meaning relates to the interpretation of the Holy Quran, in that its words include the general and the specific, the explicit and the implicit, and that a word can be a clear text (nass), an apparent meaning (dhahir), or an interpreted meaning (mu'awwal). Scholars have elaborated on this in books of Quranic sciences. As for the corrupt meaning, it is what the Batiniyyah (esoteric sects) intend, claiming that the apparent meaning of the Quran is for the common folk, while its hidden meaning is for the elite, and that the verses have hidden, blasphemous interpretations that contradict the apparent rulings of the Sharia. This is absolutely false. The Batiniyyah believe that the prophets intended to make people understand what they imagined, and that their interpretation of the Quran resembles the interpretation of dreams. This statement is disbelief in Allah the Almighty, because the Quran is a book whose verses have been explained in detail, whose meanings have been clarified, and whose rulings have been made firm.