decisive proof; so how could it be proof in Qur’anic exegesis? In other words, their views are not binding on others who dissent from them—and this is correct. If, however, they all concur on a matter, no one should doubt that such consensus is authoritative. Yet when they differ, the statement of one group among them is not binding on the rest, nor on those who come after them. In that case one must refer back to the language of the Quran itself, the Sunnah, the broader idiom of the Arabs, or the explanations handed down from the Companions.