that is fabricated or too ambiguous for its meaning to be understood. Whenever one of them finds a report containing ambiguity, he interprets it according to his own opinion. Some of them thus cite fabrications, such as the statement falsely attributed to ‘Umar, “I was like a Zanj man (a black African),” or what they narrate about “the secret of the Ascension,” or their account that:

“The people of the Suffah heard the intimate discourse without the Messenger being aware of it. When the Messenger descended, they informed him. He asked, ‘From where did you hear it?’ They replied, ‘We were listening to the address.’”

Indeed, when I explained to a group who had assumed the role of shaykhs and become examples for people to follow that this was a lie, and that Allah had never caused any such thing to happen, I said: “What makes this clear to you is that the Ascension took place in Mecca, according to the explicit text of the Quran and the consensus of the Muslims, whereas the Suffah existed only in Medina. How, then, could there have been people of the Suffah in Mecca?”

Likewise, they cite the claim that the people of the Suffah fought against the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions alongside the polytheists when the latter prevailed, claiming that they were with Allah. They use this to justify following whatever actually happens, whether it constitutes obedience to Allah or disobedience, and to equate whatever happens with what His religion prescribes. This resembles the words of those who associated partners with Allah:

“If Allah had willed, we would not have associated partners with Him, nor would our fathers.”

There are many fabrications of this kind.

As for ambiguous reports, an example is their appeal to certain Companions’ prohibition against disclosing some obscure matters of knowledge, such as the statement of ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him:

“Speak to people about what they understand, and leave aside what they cannot comprehend. Would you like Allah and His Messenger to be disbelieved?”

And the statement of ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd: