Thus, if the inquirer’s aim is simply to identify the referent, we may describe it by whatever name we wish, provided the referent of that name is already understood.
If, however, the inquirer wishes to know the distinctive attribute contained in a given name, something more than mere identification is required. A person might ask, for example, about the names al-Quddūs (the Most Holy), al-Salām (the Source of Peace), and al-Muʾmin (the Granter of Security). He already knows that they refer to Allah, yet what he wants to understand is the meaning of Allah’s being al-Quddūs, al-Salām, al-Muʾmin, and so on.
Once this is understood, it becomes clear that the salaf often spoke of the referent with an expression that points directly to its very self, even though that expression may contain an attribute not found in another name. Plainly, this does not constitute a contradictory disagreement, as some people imagine.
People have indeed differed over whether a general wording revealed on account of a specific incident should be confined to that incident. Yet no scholar of Islam has ever maintained that the universal statements of the Qur’an and the Sunnah apply solely to the individual person concerned. At most they say that the ruling is restricted to the category exemplified by that person, so it extends to everyone who resembles him; here, the universality is not determined by wording alone. Thus, a verse with a particular occasion—if it contains a command or prohibition—covers that person and anyone in the same position; and if it is a statement of praise or blame, it likewise embraces him and all who are like him.
Their saying, “This verse was revealed concerning such-and-such,” may sometimes mean that it was the very cause of revelation, and at other times that the matter mentioned is included within the verse even if it was not the cause—just as one might say, “By this verse I intended such-and-such.”
And if one scholar cites a reason for which the verse was revealed while another cites a different reason, then