Section: The Salaf’s disagreements in Qur’anic exegesis are differences of variety, not contradiction

The disagreements among the early generations in interpreting the Qur’an are few, whereas their differences over legal rulings are far more numerous. Most of the disputes authentically reported from them return to what the scholars call a “difference of diversity,” not a “difference of contradiction.” Such diversity takes two forms.

1. Each scholar may express the intended meaning in words different from those of his colleague, with every expression pointing to a distinct aspect of the same referent. This is like the “equivalent names” that lie between true synonyms and completely unrelated terms—such as the sword being called ṣārim or muhand.

The same is true of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, the names of His Messenger ﷺ, and the names of the Qur’an. All of Allah’s names point to one and the same reality; therefore, calling upon Him by one Beautiful Name is not at odds with calling upon Him by another. The matter is exactly as He has said: “Say: ‘Call upon Allah, or call upon the Most Merciful; whichever you call upon, His are the Most Beautiful Names.’” (Q 17:110)

Each of those names indicates the named Essence as well as the attribute contained in the name: al-ʿAlīm denotes the Essence and knowledge, al-Qadīr denotes the Essence and power, and al-Raḥīm denotes the Essence and mercy.

Whoever, while claiming adherence to the apparent sense, denies that these names point to His attributes is in fact echoing the stance of the extremist Bāṭinī Qarmatians, who say, “One cannot say that He is living, nor that He is not living,” thereby negating both sides of the opposition. Those Bāṭinī Qarmatians do not object to a name that functions as a mere proper noun, like a pronoun; what they reject are the affirmative attributes contained in the Beautiful Names. Anyone who aligns himself with their aim, even while professing to follow the outward sense, has, along with that claim, fallen into the same excess