Section: Interpreting the Qur’an by the Statements of the Companions

When an explanation is not found in the Qur’an itself or in the Sunnah, we then turn to the sayings of the Companions, for they were the most knowledgeable in this regard. They witnessed the Qur’an’s revelation and the particular circumstances that accompanied it, and they possessed sound understanding, accurate knowledge, and righteous deeds—especially their scholars and senior figures, such as the four rightly guided caliphs and other rightly guided leaders, among them ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud.

Imam Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari said: “Abu Kurayb narrated to us; he said, ‘Jabir ibn Nuh informed us; al-Aʿmash informed us, from Abu al-Duha, from Masruq, who said: ʿAbd Allah—meaning Ibn Masʿud—declared, “By Him besides Whom there is no deity, no verse of Allah’s Book has ever been revealed without my knowing for whom it was revealed and where it was revealed; and if I were to know the whereabouts of anyone…"”