They also differed over the meaning of kalālah (1). Likewise, they debated the interpretation of His words, “If the deceased had brothers, then his mother receives one-sixth” (2) (Al-Nisāʾ 4:11), and the like.

By contrast, they never disputed the interpretation of the verses and reports that speak of the divine attributes. Rather, the Companions—and, after them, the Successors—were in full agreement: they affirmed those texts, passed them on as they are, understood their meanings, and acknowledged their realities. This consensus shows that these texts are the more explicitly clarified of the two categories, and that attending to their exposition is of greater importance, for they are part of fully realizing the two testimonies of faith, and affirming them is inseparable from tawḥīd. Accordingly, Allah and His Messenger provided a complete and satisfactory elucidation of them (3), leaving no ambiguity or problem that could draw the firmly grounded scholars into dispute or confusion.

Whoever’s breast Allah has opened and whose heart He has illumined knows that these texts point to their meanings more plainly than many of the legal verses point to theirs. Indeed, the legal verses are understood by only a select few, whereas the verses concerning the divine names and attributes are understood