to those who pray (4) who are heedless of their prayer (al-Maʿūn 4–5). This verse was revealed about people who postpone the prayer beyond its prescribed time. That does not mean, however, that their delay itself was the historical cause of revelation; the obvious, immediate sense is simply that this is what the verse intends. Hence such a remark is an interpretation, not a report of the occasion of descent.

The two categories of exegetical variety we have just discussed—one arising from the diversity of names and attributes, the other from citing certain kinds or subdivisions of the referent as illustrative instances—constitute the bulk of what appears to be divergent exegesis among the early generations.

Explanation
An example of diversity in names and attributes would be the multiple terms for “sword”: ṣārim, muhannad, maslūl, sayf, and the like. As for citing only some kinds of the referent, consider the verse, “Among them are those who wrong themselves, among them are those who follow a middle course, and among them are those who hasten to good deeds.” Some of the early scholars explained this as referring to those who perform the prayer, while others said it refers to those who give charity.

Among the disagreements reported from them are cases in which the wording itself can legitimately bear both senses: either because the term is homonymous in Arabic—such as qaswara, which may mean a hunter or a lion, and ʿasʿasa, which may mean the approach of night or its retreat.

Explanation
We have already defined a homonymous term as one whose single form carries multiple distinct meanings;