On another occasion he delivered a sermon in which he spoke of the very beginning of creation, continuing until the people of Paradise had entered their dwellings and the people of Hell their abodes (1).

A Jew once said to Salman, “Your Prophet has taught you everything—even how to relieve yourselves!” Salman replied, “Indeed he has.” (2)

That Jew, then, knew more about our Prophet than does this questioner and his party!

How can anyone claim that the Companions of our Prophet were mere laymen, when all the beneficial sciences now diffused throughout the Muslim community—in their multitude, breadth, and varied branches—are taken from them and extracted from their words and legal judgments?

Take, for example, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas. Though he was among the youngest of them, his knowledge filled the earth. His legal verdicts alone reached nearly thirty volumes. He was an ocean that could never be exhausted; were all humanity to draw upon him, he would encompass them with learning. When he spoke about what is lawful and unlawful and about the shares of inheritance, people would say, “None excels him in this.” (When he turned to the exegesis of the Quran and its meanings, the listener would likewise say, “None excels him in this.”) (3) When he addressed the Sunnah and the narrations traced back to the Prophet, the verdict was the same. When he recounted stories, the histories of past nations, and the chronicles of earlier peoples, it was the same. When he treated the genealogies of the Arabs—their tribes, roots, and branches—the same judgment was passed. And when he turned (4) to poetry and rare expressions, it was exactly the same (5).