such as the Torah and others. However, some scholars in the third century were reluctant to narrate this hadith and would narrate only part of it, just as they were reluctant to narrate certain hadiths to someone for whose soul they feared, and whose mind or faith might be corrupted. As ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said:

“No man relates to people a report beyond their understanding without it becoming a trial for some of them.”

Al-Bukhārī also relates that ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib said:

“Tell people what they can understand, and leave aside what they would reject. Do you want Allah and His Messenger to be disbelieved?”

Even so, they did not advocate concealing altogether what the Messenger had brought. Rather, they had to convey it wherever doing so was appropriate. For this reason, there was agreement