  It is precisely in the context of the above insights that the idea of interpreting texts in terms of an external and internal layer—including, as we will see, allegorical interpretation of the Bible—becomes so important for Maimonides. For Maimonides, allegory — which couches difficult truths in colorful, vibrant images—and other forms of obscure writing emerge as especially effective tools for leading average people to live in accordance with the truths they cannot understand on their own (in this way allowing them the opportunity to live a good life) while shielding them from scientific and philosophical truths which would be so hard for them to understand as to (a) be unable to effect any positive outcomes in their lives, and/or (b) confuse them to the point of apostasy (an outcome which, for Maimonides, precisely blocks the opportunity to live a good life). In this context, Maimonides sees the Bible itself as filled with allegorical renderings — renderings masterfully crafted by Moses, the prophet par excellence. Here, the Bible is a literary masterpiece penned by Moses under the inspiration of the active intellect, but through his own imaginative lens: the Bible is in this sense the truth couched in imaginative and rhetorically persuasive images (such as anthropomorphic descriptions of God as sitting, standing, etc.).  Again (see 7.1), it is precisely the Bible's construction (by Moses the prophet) through imaginative and rhetorically effective images and stories that enables it to operate upon the hearts (or, more technically, the imaginations) of average people, enabling them to live lives in accordance with the truths that they themselves cannot grasp. For his Islamic predecessors it is, of course, Muhammad who plays this operative role as the virtuous lawgiving prophet able to lead a community to virtue through the creative imagery and persuasions of religion through the imaginative and rhetorically persuasive imageries of the Quran.