It is self-evident that the aim of any utterance is to apprehend its meanings, not to linger over its mere wording; all the more so with the Quran. Moreover, people would never read a book on any science—medicine, arithmetic, and the like—without seeking its explanation; how then with the Word of Allah, which is their safeguard, their means to salvation and felicity, and the foundation of their religion and their worldly life?

For this reason disagreement among the Companions over the interpretation of the Quran was extremely limited. Although such differences were slightly more frequent among the Successors, they were still scant in comparison with those who came after. The more excellent the era, the greater its harmony, unity, knowledge, and clarity.

Among the Successors were some who took the whole of tafsīr directly from the Companions. Mujāhid said, “I reviewed the entire muṣḥaf with Ibn ʿAbbās, stopping him at every verse and asking him about it.” Hence al-Thawrī remarked, “If tafsīr reaches you from Mujāhid, that alone suffices you.” On his exegesis al-Shāfiʿī, al-Bukhārī, and other scholars relied, and Imam Aḥmad—as well as others who compiled works on tafsīr—cites chains of transmission from Mujāhid more often than from anyone else.

The point, then, is that the Successors received their understanding of the Quran’s interpretation from the Companions, just as they received from them