As for al-Rāzī’s discussion of the report he transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās—“I saw my Lord in the most beautiful form,” and so on—it has already been explained that attributing this narration to Ibn ʿAbbās is an error. Rather, it is the hadith of Ibn ʿĀʾish and others. The hadiths preserved from Ibn ʿAbbās have different wordings. This is the hadith of Abū Qilāba, which Maʿmar transmitted from him through Ayyūb and Qatāda.

Regarding his statement, “Know that the interpretation of the words ‘I saw my Lord in the most beautiful form’ has already been given,” the reply is: Nothing in the preceding discussion comes close to the truth except his statement, “It may refer to the One seen, and the vision may have been a dream.” This possibility is close to the truth, for it was indeed a dream-vision. Yet he merely allowed this possibility without affirming it decisively.

Calling this an interpretation is mistaken, because it is an explanation made explicit in the hadith. Although it may not appear in the wording of the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās that he cited, it is explained in the versions transmitted by the majority of the hadith’s narrators.

It is well known that when one person transmits a hadith in an abridged form, while groups of narrators transmit it with additional wording that explains and clarifies that error, their transmission explains and clarifies what that individual narrated. This would hold if Ibn ʿAbbās’s narration were