Explanation

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—says: In Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir), the people of Mecca are the most knowledgeable, whereas in the accounts of the Prophet’s campaigns (maghazi) the people of Medina are the most knowledgeable. He explains this by saying: they (the Meccans) were disciples of Ibn ʿAbbas—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—such as Mujahid and ʿAtaʾ ibn Abi Rabah.

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Among the distinctive features in which they excelled over others is this chain of learning. As for the Medinan scholars of tafsir, an example is Zayd ibn Aslam (1); Malik acquired his exegesis from him, his son ʿAbd al-Rahman learned it from Zayd, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb received it from ʿAbd al-Rahman.

When mursal reports are supported by several independent chains and are free of deliberate collusion or even unintended agreement, they are unequivocally sound. A transmitted report is either truthful—matching the actual event—or it is false because the transmitter either deliberately lied or made an error. Therefore, once a report is proven free from intentional fabrication and error, it is unquestionably true.

Explanation

Do mursal reports constitute truth? Are they sound or not? A mursal report is one that is traced back to the Prophet ﷺ by someone who did not