—such as the number of the blasts of the Trumpet and the sheer burden of creating the heavens and the earth.

Al-Tirmidhī relates from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Beware of transmitting statements from me except what you are sure of. Whoever deliberately lies about me, let him take his seat in the Fire; and whoever speaks about the Qur’an according to his own opinion, let him take his seat in the Fire.”

He likewise narrated—on the authority of Jundub—that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Whoever interprets the Qur’an by his opinion and happens to be correct has nonetheless erred.”

Al-Tirmidhī remarked, “This ḥadīth is gharīb.” Abū Dāwūd also recorded it and criticized one of its transmitters. Razīn added: “And whoever speaks by his opinion and is mistaken has fallen into disbelief.”

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Bashshār ibn Muḥammad al-Anbārī, the grammarian and philologist, wrote in his book al-Radd:

“The ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās has been explained in two ways. One interpretation is that whoever tackles the difficult passages of the Qur’an with a view that is not known from the path of the early generations—the Companions and the Successors—exposes himself to the wrath of Allah.

“The second explanation—more firmly established and sounder in meaning—is that whoever makes a statement about the Qur’an while knowing full well that the truth lies elsewhere, let him take his seat in the Fire.

“The word yatabawwaʾ (‘let him take his seat’) means to descend and settle.” As the poet said:
“She was settled in the very heart of her clan,
and thus her abode among her people was secured.”

Regarding the ḥadīth of Jundub he continued: “Some scholars have understood the word ‘opinion’ here to mean personal whim. Hence, whoever expounds the Qur’an in a manner that merely coincides with his own desires, without adopting it from the Imams of the early generations, then even if he turns out to be correct he has erred—because he has pronounced judgment on the Qur’an without knowing its foundations and without acquainting himself with the stance of those who transmit and narrate.”

Ibn ʿAṭiyyah said:
“The meaning is that a man is asked about a passage in the Book of Allah, Mighty and Exalted, and he vaults upon it with his own opinion, without considering what the scholars have said and without recourse to the disciplines of knowledge such as grammar and legal theory. This ḥadīth does not include linguists explaining its vocabulary, grammarians its syntax, or jurists its legal rulings, each speaking on the basis of ijtihād founded upon accepted scholarly principles and investigation—for the one who speaks in that manner is not speaking by mere opinion.”