Ibn ʿAṭiyya said:

“Many of the leading figures among the Salaf—a large number of them—did interpret the Qur’an, thereby bestowing a lasting benefit upon the Muslims; may Allah be pleased with them all. The foremost of the exegetes, the one most decisively supported in this field, is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him. Next after him comes ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, who devoted himself wholly to the task and perfected it; scholars such as Mujāhid, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and others followed his path. What has been reliably transmitted from him on this subject is more plentiful than what has come down from ʿAlī.

Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘Whatever I acquired of Qur’anic interpretation I took from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.’ For his part, ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—used to praise Ibn ʿAbbās’s tafsīr and encourage people to learn from him. Ibn ʿAbbās would say, ‘How excellent an interpreter of the Qur’an is ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās!’ And ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—said about him, ‘Ibn ʿAbbās looks at the unseen as though through a thin veil.’

After Ibn ʿAbbās come ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Zayd ibn Thābit, and ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. Whatever is taken from the Companions is excellent and given priority, for they witnessed the revelation and it was sent down in their very language.

ʿĀmir ibn Wāthilah reported: I attended ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah be pleased with him—while he was delivering a sermon and heard him say, ‘Ask me! By Allah, you will not ask me about anything that will occur until the Day of Resurrection but that I will inform you of it. Ask me about the Book of Allah; for, by Allah, there is no verse except that I know whether it was revealed by night or by day, on level ground or upon a mountain.’ Ibn al-Kawwāʾ then rose and said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, what are “Those that scatter, scattering”?’—and the remainder of the report was mentioned.

Al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr narrated that ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd said, ‘If I knew of anyone more knowledgeable about the Book of Allah than I—and camels could reach him—I would travel to him.’ A man asked, ‘Have you not met ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib?’ He replied, ‘Indeed, I have met him.’

Masrūq said, ‘I found the Companions of Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—like reservoirs: one basin that quenches one person, another that quenches two, and a basin which, were all people to come to it, would satisfy them all; ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd is among those abundant reservoirs.’

Abu Bakr al-Anbārī cited these virtues in his book al-Radd and remarked, ‘Among the Arabs, an ikhādh is a place where water collects, like a small pool.’

He then said, ‘Ahmad ibn al-Haytham ibn Khālid narrated to us; Ahmad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Yūnus narrated to us; Salām narrated from …’