hawwaz and huttī. They also relate that the Messiah said this to his teacher at the elementary school. All these reports are feeble—indeed, fabricated. The scholars of transmitted reports agree that none of them may be cited as evidence, although some authors who wrote on this subject mentioned them, such as al-Sharīf al-Mazīdī, Shaykh Abū al-Faraj, his son 'Abd al-Wahhāb, and others. Some Quran commentators and historians also mention them. Yet specialists in this field regard all of this as false, and it cannot be relied upon in any matter of religion. Although Abū Bakr al-Naqqāsh and other Quran commentators mentioned it, and al-Sharīf al-Mazīdī al-Harrānī and others transmitted it from al-Naqqāsh and writers like him, the most eminent commentator to mention it was Abū Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī. He explained in his commentary that everything transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on this subject is false.

At the end of his commentary, he mentioned people's differing interpretations of abjad, hawwaz and huttī. He cited a hadith transmitted through Muhammad ibn Ziyād al-Jazarī, from Furāt ibn Abī al-Furāt, from Mu'āwiya ibn Qurra, from his father, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Learn abājād and its interpretation. Woe to a scholar who does not know the interpretation of Abī Jādd!” He related: They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is its interpretation?” He replied, “As for alif, it stands for Allah's blessings and is a letter found in His names. As for bā, it stands for Allah's splendour; as for jīm, Allah's majesty; and as for dāl, the religion of