(1) He was Abu Sa‘id ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, one of the foremost figures of his time in knowledge, practice, courage, and asceticism; he died in 110 AH. See: Hilyat al-Awliya (vol. 2, p. 131); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala (vol. 4, p. 563). (2) A variant of this report is transmitted by Abd al-Razzaq in his al-Musannaf (3/363), by Ibn al-Mubarak in al-Zuhd (p. 247, no. 793), by al-Firyabi in Fada’il al-Qur’an (p. 247, no. 177), and by Ibn Abi Hatim in his Tafsir, as cited in Tafsir Ibn Kathir (4/33). (3) See: al-Sirat al-Mustaqim fi Ithbat al-Harf al-Qadim by the author (p. 35); al-Burhan fi Bayan al-Qur’an by the same (p. 56); Fada’il al-Qur’an by Ibn Ubayd (pp. 152–162); Lamhat al-Anwar wa Nafahat al-Azhar by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Ghafiqi (vol. 1, pp. 104–123); al-Burhan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an by al-Zarkashi (vol. 1, pp. 249–252); al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an by al-Suyuti (vol. 1, pp. 86–93); Saadat al-Darin fi Bayan Wa‘d Ay Mu‘jiz al-Thaqalayn by Muhammad ibn Ali al-Husayni.