فالظاهر: اسم لكل كلام ظهر المراد به للسامع بنفس السماع من غير تأمل.
Ẓāhir is wording whose intended meaning is apparent to the hearer immediately, without deliberate reflection.
Being apparent does not entail that every application or every implication is beyond qualification. A ẓāhir sense is understood directly, while a legally relevant possibility of specification or interpretation may remain.
Example: “Marry those women who are lawful to you” makes the permissibility of marriage evident. The later wording “two, three, or four” serves a more specific numerical purpose. Thus the sense that first appears and the purpose for which a passage is brought may have different levels of indication.