the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah concerning the Ambiguous Passages of the Quran about Which They Entertained Doubts and Which They Interpreted Contrary to Their True Meaning.” Ahmad thus reproached them for explaining the Quran in ways contrary to its meaning.

Neither Ahmad nor any of the leading scholars said that the Messenger did not know the meanings of the verses and hadiths concerning the divine attributes. Nor did they say that the Companions and those who followed them in righteousness did not know the explanation and meanings of the Quran. How could they, when Allah commanded reflection upon His Book? He Most High said:

“This is a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, that they may reflect upon its verses.”

He did not say, “some of its verses.” He also said:

“Then do they not reflect upon the Quran?”

And He said:

“Then have they not reflected upon the word?”

There are other such texts which make clear that Allah loves people to reflect upon the entire Quran, and that He has made it a light and guidance for His servants. It is impossible for something whose meaning cannot be understood to serve that purpose.

Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī said: “Those who used to teach us the Quran—‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān and ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd—told us: ‘Whenever we learned ten verses from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, we would not move beyond them until we had learned the knowledge and practice they contained.’ They said: ‘Thus we learned the Quran, knowledge, and practice together.’” These matters are discussed at length elsewhere.

The point here is this: if what someone says about the Messenger and his explanations to people belongs to the teachings of the heretics, what can his position concerning the early generations be, that he should claim to follow them? Even by his own reckoning and that of his group, he is at odds with the Messenger and the early generations. For he has openly proclaimed teachings of the deniers which, in his view, the Messenger considered best left undisclosed because they would corrupt people. But this is not so in the judgment of those possessed of knowledge and faith.