(1) His biographical notice will appear on p. 68. (2) Al-Bukhari, Sahih, vol. 6, p. 361, Book of the Prophets, chapter “What has been reported about the Children of Israel,” from the hadith of Abdullah b. Amr: the Prophet ﷺ said: “Convey from me even one verse; relate reports about the Children of Israel without blame; and whoever deliberately attributes a lie to me, let him take his seat in Hellfire.” As for the material that has reached us from them, its transmission is qualified: what accords with our law we affirm and may transmit; what contradicts it we reject and are forbidden to report except to expose its falsity; and with regard to what our law is silent about, we suspend judgement—neither confirming nor denying—though narration remains permissible. Most of what is transmitted concerns stories and historical reports, not doctrine or legal rulings. Yet one must realise that the licence to recount such material, when we lack proof of its truth or falsehood, does not justify inserting it into Quranic exegesis, presenting it as an interpretation, as a specification of what the verses left unspecified, or as a detail of what the revelation stated in general terms. To place such uncertain material alongside God’s words might suggest that it clarifies or elaborates His speech—far be that from the Book of Allah. Indeed, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ permitted us to relate from them, he also instructed us neither to confirm nor to deny them. What stronger endorsement of their reports could there be than coupling them with the Book of Allah and treating them as its commentary? (3) “yaghtu ‘alaykum” means “it becomes corrupt for you,” from ghata al-kalam ghatan, “the speech became unsound.” Qays b. al-Khatim said: “Speech does not become unsound when she speaks, while in her mouth there is a delightfully stirring sweetness.”