—“have massed against you, so fear them” (3:173)—and that the word “the people” here refers to Abū Sufyān. This, as has been transmitted, may be cited; otherwise the verse must be left in its full generality, for restricting a general term to only one of its instances is a shortcoming in exegesis. As we all know, the explanation must correspond to the text being explained: to narrow it without proof is impermissible, and to broaden it beyond its scope is likewise impermissible. Thus, when a text is explicitly confined to a particular case, we may not universalize it except by way of analogy, and then only where analogy is legitimately applicable.

Ibn ʿAṭiyyah’s commentary and works of the same type adhere more closely to the Sunnah and the mainstream community and are freer of innovation than al-Zamakhsharī’s tafsīr. Had he reproduced, in their original form, the statements of the early generations found in the transmitted commentaries, his work would have been better and more complete. He frequently quotes from the exegesis of Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī—one of the greatest and most highly regarded traditional commentaries—yet he omits altogether what Ibn Jarīr relates from the early scholars, citing instead what he claims to be “the view of the verifiers,” by which he means a group of speculative theologians who established their principles by methods similar to those employed by the Muʿtazilah. Although they are closer to the Sunnah than the Muʿtazilah, everyone must be given his due, and it should be recognized that this is merely one strand of doctrinally-driven exegesis.

Explanation
These are the words of the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—and they show that the man was fair and just: the truth, even when it comes from people of innovation, must be accepted; and when some innovators are closer to the Sunnah than others, they deserve to be commended