for parents and close relatives. Now, if we belonged to those who refuse to accept prophetic reports, and someone came along saying, “The bequest verse has abrogated the fixed-share verses,” how could we refute him except by citing a report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?
53 – He said, “This is exactly like the Book and the Wisdom. The proof is conclusive in your favor: we are obliged to accept what is reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I have therefore adopted the duty of accepting such reports, binding upon all Muslims for the reasons you have mentioned and for others like them that appear in the Book of Allah. I am not too proud to announce that I have moved from a view I once held to another when the evidence becomes clear; rather, I consider it a religious obligation to abandon what I formerly thought and to embrace what I now recognize as the truth.
54 – “But tell me: the universal wording in the Qur’an—why do you treat it as general in some places and particular in others?”
55 – I replied, “The Arabic language is spacious. A speaker may utter something in universal terms while intending something particular, and that intent becomes evident in the phrasing. In such matters I rely only on a binding report. The same applies to the Qur’an: sometimes a ruling is clarified within the Qur’an itself, and at other times in the Sunnah.”
56 – He said, “Then mention an example.”
57 – I said, “Allah, exalted is He, says, ‘Allah is the Creator of everything’ (39:62); the statement is outwardly universal and indeed meant to be universal.
58 – “He also says, ‘We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you might come to know one another. Surely the most honorable of you in Allah’s sight is the most God-fearing of you’ (49:13). Every soul is created from male and female—another universal statement intended as such.
59 – “Yet there is specificity within it, for He says, ‘Surely the most honorable of you in Allah’s sight is the most God-fearing of you.’ God-fearingness—and its opposite—exists only in those who have reached maturity and whose minds are sound.
60 – “He also says, ‘O people! A parable is set forth, so listen to it: those whom you invoke besides Allah could not create even a fly, even if they all gathered together for that purpose’ (22:73). It is universally known that every…"