As an exponent of Salafi theology, Rida nonetheless argued that allegorical interpretations of the scriptures ("ta'wil") were sometimes appropriate because without them many Muslims would have abandoned their religion. To survive in the modern era, the message of Islam needed to be articulated in a way that was consistent with scientific discourses. In a letter to Abdul Rahman al Sa'adi, the teacher of the famous Salafi scholar Ibn Uthaymeen, Rida acknowledged that his own exegesis included elements of ta'wil, but he claimed that it was in the best interest of modern Muslims. Rida was obviously concerned that some Najdi scholars might not grasp the social and political significance of his reformist eϸorts. However, he appears to have hoped that his contact with King Abd al-'Aziz would allow him to inflence the Wahhabis and help them overcome their self-defeating rigidity. At the end of his letter, Rida mentioned that he took it upon himself to write to the king about the necessity of balanced reform and that he intended to mail him ten copies of "Tafsir al-Manar" so that Najdi scholars could learn from it.