Thus, although the leading hadith scholars do not rely on such reports individually as proof, these and similar reports are what has been transmitted, rather than what he mentioned.

Al-Khallāl and others transmitted the following report, which is well known from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from ʿUbayd al-Mukattib, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: “Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has veiled Himself from His creation with four things: fire, water, light, and darkness.” ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī also related it in his Refutation of