He said, with regard to the Almighty’s words, “He grants wisdom to whom He wills” (al-Baqarah 2:269): “wisdom means knowledge and jurisprudence.”

He also said: “When the jurists are the ones placed in charge of your affairs.”

Concerning His words, “So follow it, and do not follow the [other] paths lest they lead you away from His path” (al-Anʿām 6:153), he commented: “Those paths are innovations and dubious matters.”

He said: “The most meritorious act of worship is sound judgment”—that is, adherence to the sunnah.

He likewise said: “I do not know which of the two blessings is greater: that He guided me to Islam, or that He spared me from misguided desires.”

Explaining the phrase, “and those in authority among you” (al-Nisāʾ 4:59), he said: “the Companions of Muhammad,” and at times he would say: “those possessed of intellect and excellence in the religion of Allah—Exalted is He.”

Regarding, “Because of what they have done, a calamity will strike them” (al-Raʿd 13:31), he said: “a military expedition.”

About, “And He creates that of which you have no knowledge” (al-Naḥl 16:8), he said: “the moth that eats through clothes.”

Concerning, “My bones have grown feeble” (Maryam 19:4), he explained: “the molars.”

Of the word “ḥafiyyā” (Maryam 19:47), he said: “compassionate.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal reports: “I found in a book of Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥātim, in his own handwriting: Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Yamān narrated to us; from ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad; from Mujāhid, who said: ‘If a man were to spend an amount equal to Mount Uḥud in obedience to Allah—Exalted is He—he would not be counted among the prodigal.’”

As for the verse, “He is severe in might” (al-Raʿd 13:13), he said: “meaning enmity.”

Of the words, “Between them is a barrier so that neither overtakes the other” (al-Raḥmān 55:20), he said: “Between them is a partition set by Allah, so that the sweet water does not encroach upon the salty, nor the salty upon the sweet.”

Ibn Mandah related: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Quddūs narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, who said: “Whenever Mujāhid heard of something wondrous, he would travel to see it. He journeyed to Ḥaḍramawt to the well of Barahūt, and he went to Babylon, where the governor was a friend of his. Mujāhid said, ‘Present Hārūt and Mārūt to me.’ So the governor summoned a man among the sorcerers and told him, ‘Take this man and show him Hārūt and Mārūt.’

“The Jew said, ‘On the condition that you do not invoke Allah in their presence.’ Mujāhid continued: ‘He took me to a fortress, broke off a stone from it, and said, “Hold on to my leg.” He lowered himself with me until we reached a cistern (1), where I saw the two of them hanging upside-down like two enormous mountains. When I saw them, I exclaimed