What words mean

from William Burroughs vs. the Qur’an, by Michael Muhammad Knight:

“At least on paper – forgetting the power that Muslims sign off to imams – Islam offers a direct relationship to the Creator, with no human intermediaries. But I know I can only say this because Muhammad is dead. … If following Muhammad’s wise sayings and example ever becomes difficult, if something doesn’t quite match our modern conscience, Muhammad’s not here to explain himself. So we explain him; we decide what his words mean. The progressives tweak him, the conservatives tweak him, everyone using phrases like ‘allegorical interpretation’ and ‘historical context’ to bend his words until he gives us exactly what we want.”  

"The Prayer" by Jean-Leon Gerome