This, then, is the second division of the transmitted reports: the material for which we have no means of ascertaining its authenticity. The bulk of it is profitless, and speaking about it is idle talk. As for those matters the Muslim community needs to know, Allah, exalted is He, has set up clear evidence that leads to the truth. An example of what brings no benefit and for which there is no proof determining what is correct is their disagreement over the colour of the dog that accompanied the Companions of the Cave, and over the particular piece of the cow with which the slain man was struck.

Commentary

This is entirely true: their dispute about the colour of the dog of the Companions of the Cave yields no benefit. Whether it was red, white, or black, knowing its colour avails us nothing, and we have no way of learning it except through Israelite reports, which are not trustworthy. Thus there is no use in knowing whether the dog was black, white, or red.

The same applies to the “part” of the cow with which Moses was commanded to strike the murdered man in the verse, “So We said, ‘Strike him with a part of it’” (Quran 2:73). Was that part the foreleg, the hind leg, the neck, or the head? We simply do not know.

Likewise, the precise dimensions of Noah’s Ark and the type of wood from which it was built.

Commentary

There is no benefit in knowing from what timber it was fashioned—whether tamarisk, acacia, or teak—nor in learning its measurements: how high it rose above the water, how deep below, or how wide it was. None of this concerns us.