And in the Sunan collections:

“Whoever speaks about the Quran on the basis of his own opinion and gets it right has nevertheless erred. Whoever speaks about the Quran on the basis of his own opinion and gets it wrong, let him take his seat in the Fire.”

These two kinds of speech are blameworthy without qualification, especially speech that is itself false and baseless. As for inquiry and debate as such, the early generations did not prohibit them unconditionally. Rather, when grounded in truth, they may sometimes be enjoined and at other times prohibited, like other forms of truthful speech. Thus, speech that the listener cannot understand, or that harms the listener, may be prohibited, as may debates that breed doubts and desires, yielding neither knowledge nor religious benefit.

An example of this is when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came out to a group of his Companions who were debating divine decree. He said:

“Is this what you were commanded to do? Or is this what you were called to—to set one part of Allah’s Book against another? The Quran was only revealed so that its parts would confirm one another, not contradict one another.”

If a debate involves each participant denying some of the truth, it is prohibited for that reason.

Most disagreements among those who follow their desires fall into