What are the intellectual stances between the literal and the esoteric meanings of the Qur'anic text?

The Sunnis believe that some of the legal rulings in the Holy Qur’an are clear and do not require inference, while others are subtle and do require it. The Usuliyyun (jurists specializing in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence) have developed for this the discussions on the semantic indications of words (Dalalat al-Alfaz), which are the explicit meaning (mantooq) and the implicit meaning (mafhoom), and each of these has its own categories. As for the people of innovation (Ahl al-Bid'a), they claim that the Qur’an has an outward (zahir) and an inward (batin) meaning. The outward is the legal and linguistic interpretation, while the inward consists of interpretations that are not connected to the semantic indications of the words or the context of the Qur’an. They attribute these interpretations to the Ahl al-Bayt (Household of the Prophet). The first to introduce this interpretation was Jabir al-Ju'fi, the weak Rafidi (Shiite). This esoteric interpretation serves their corrupt doctrines and beliefs regarding the imams and guardianship (wilayah). Examples of this include interpreting verses with the names of the imams.