by Muhammad ibn Abd Allāh al-Juʿfī, al-Bukhārī’s teacher; and by Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abū Bakr al-Athram, Hanbal ibn Ishāq, Harb al-Kirmānī, Uthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī, Nuʿaym ibn Hammād al-Khuzāʿī, Abū Bakr al-Khallāl, Abū Bakr ibn Khuzaymah, Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Hātim, Abū al-Qāsim al-Tabarānī, Abū al-Shaykh al-Asbahānī, Abū Abd Allāh ibn Mandah, Abū Amr al-Talamankī, and Abū Umar ibn Abd al-Barr.

A substantial body of this material also appears in Quran commentaries that transmit reports with their chains of transmission, such as the commentaries of Abd al-Razzāq, Abd ibn Humayd, Duhaym, Sunayd, Ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī, Abū Bakr ibn al-Mundhir, and Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Hātim, as well as other commentaries that convey the exact words of the Companions and their Successors concerning the meanings of the Quran through well-known chains of transmission.

Understanding what the Messenger and the Companions intended is the foundation of knowledge and the wellspring of guidance. Yet many who describe and report the position of the early generations have no familiarity with any of this material. For example, they suppose that the position of the early generations concerning the verses and hadiths about the divine attributes is that no one understands their meanings—neither the Messenger nor anyone else. They suppose that this is the meaning of His words:

“And no one knows its interpretation except Allah.”

They also argue for stopping at this point in the recitation. Thus, they portray the position of the early generations as being that the Messenger conveyed a Quran whose meaning cannot be understood, and, moreover, that he spoke the hadiths concerning the divine attributes without understanding their meaning himself; that Gabriel was likewise, and that the Companions and their Successors were likewise.