(1) Al-Bukhari records this report (Sahih, 8/427–429, Tafsir of Surat Fussilat) through the chain: Yusuf b. Adi – Ubayd Allah b. Amr – Zayd b. Abi Anisa – al-Minhal – Saʿid b. Jubayr. Saʿid related: A man said to Ibn ʿAbbas, “I come across passages in the Qurʾan that seem to contradict one another. Allah says: ‘On that Day there will be no kinship between them and they will not question one another’ (al-Muʾminun 23:101), whereas He also says: ‘They will turn to one another and ask questions’ (al-Saffat 37:27). He says: ‘They will not hide any statement from Allah’ (al-Nisaʾ 4:42), yet He also quotes them as saying: ‘By Allah, our Lord, we were never idolaters’ (al-Anʿam 6:23), which is clearly a concealment. Concerning creation, He first says: ‘Did He not build the heaven … then spread out the earth’ (al-Naziʿat 79:27–30), placing the heavens before the earth, but elsewhere: ‘Do you really disbelieve in the One who created the earth in two days … then turned to the heaven’ (Fussilat 41:9–11), putting the earth before the heavens. Finally, Allah says: ‘Allah has always been Forgiving, Merciful … Mighty, Wise … All-Hearing, All-Seeing’—does this mean He once possessed these attributes and then ceased?” Ibn ʿAbbas replied: “The verse about the absence of kinship refers to the first blast of the Trumpet; when the second blast is sounded all who are in the heavens and on earth will fall unconscious, and at that moment there will be neither kinship nor questioning. After the third blast they will turn to one another and ask questions. “As for ‘We were never idolaters’ versus ‘They will not hide any statement from Allah’, Allah will forgive the sins of the sincere. The idolaters, however, will agree among themselves to deny their polytheism; Allah will then seal their mouths, their hands will speak, and they will realize that nothing can be hidden from Allah—only then will the unbelievers wish for annihilation. “Regarding creation: Allah created the earth in two days, then created the heaven and fashioned it in another two days; after that He ‘spread out’ (daha) the earth—i.e., He drew forth its water and pasture—and created the mountains, animals, hills and all that lies between them in yet another two days. Thus the earth and everything within it were completed in four days, while the heavens were created in two. “As for the divine names ‘Forgiving, Merciful’ and the like, Allah is eternally characterised by them; He has always been as He names Himself. Nothing Allah wills fails to occur, so do not let the Qurʾan perplex you, for every word is from Allah.” See also al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 2/392. (*) Biographical sources for Saʿid b. Jubayr: Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil, 2/66; al-Sullami, Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, 137–140; Abu Nuʿaym, Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ, 9/280–297; Ibn al-Jawzi, Sifat al-Safwa, 4/277–279; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 1/106; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, fol. 176, Aya Sofya MS 3007; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 10/318–319; al-Murtada al-Zabidi, Tabaqat al-Awliyaʾ, 46–47; al-Sharani, al-Tabaqat, 1/97; al-Laknawi, al-Kawakib al-Durriyya, 1/197; al-Laknawi, Natayij al-Afkar al-Qudsiyya, 1/133–135.