(1) Muʿammar ibn Rashid ibn Abi ʿUmar al-Azdi was a leading, trustworthy hadith scholar and jurist. He was born in Basra in 95 AH, later settled in Yemen—where he gained renown—and died there in 153 AH. See: Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa-al-Nihayah 9:266-267; Ibn Hajar, Taqrib al-Tahdhib 2:266, no. 1284. (2) al-Hasan ibn Yasar al-Basri, Abu Saʿid, one of the foremost Successors, was born in Medina in 21 AH and lived in Basra. Hailed in his time as the community’s master in hadith, fiqh, and tafsir, he was raised in the household of ʿAli ibn Abi Talib. His moral authority enabled him to admonish governors without hesitation. He died in 110 AH. See: Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan 2:69-73, no. 156; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 2:263-270, no. 488. (3) See Ibn Kathir, Tafsir 3:368, which cites this view on the authority of al-Hasan, and al-Tabari, Tafsir 10:123, which records it with an isnad. (4) See Ibn Kathir, Tafsir 2:368, where the same interpretation is also attributed to Abu Hurayrah. (5) The eminent Companion ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi al-Qurashi—the Prophet’s cousin, known as Habr al-Ummah (the community’s scholar) and Tarjuman al-Quran (interpreter of the Quran). The Messenger of Allah prayed that he be granted mastery of tafsir and deep understanding of the religion. Because of the breadth of his knowledge in exegesis, language, maghazi, and Arab poetry, he was called al-Habr and al-Bahr (the ocean). The Rightly Guided Caliphs valued his counsel on complex matters. In 35 AH he was appointed to lead the pilgrimage by ʿUthman; he fought the Khawarij alongside ʿAli, debated them, and refuted them; he later governed Basra before retiring to Taʾif, where he died in 68 AH. He had been born three years before the Hijrah. See: Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa-al-Nihayah 8:295-306; Ibn Saʿd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra 3:63-72. (6) See al-Firuzabadi, al-Miqbas fi Tafsir Ibn ʿAbbas, p. 124.