the Sunnah, although they sometimes addressed matters of interpretation through deduction and inference, just as they addressed certain matters of the Sunnah through deduction and inference.
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Disagreement among the early generations over Quranic interpretation was slight, and their disagreements over legal rulings were more numerous than their disagreements over interpretation. Most disagreements authentically reported from them involve variation rather than contradiction. This is of two kinds:
The first is when each expresses the intended meaning in different words, indicating a different aspect of the same referent. This resembles co-referential names, which fall between synonyms and terms with distinct referents—as with the names given to a sword: “the keen blade” and “the Indian blade.” Such are the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, the names of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the names of the Quran. All of Allah’s names refer to the same One, so invoking Him by one of His Most Beautiful Names does not contradict invoking Him by another. Rather, it is as the Most High says:
“Say, ‘Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever name you call Him by, His are the Most Beautiful Names.’”
Each of His names denotes the Essence so named and the attribute that