I say:

The correct view is that of the leading scholars of the early generations—Mujāhid and others like him—for they were the most knowledgeable about the meanings of the Quran, especially Mujāhid. He said: “I recited the Quran to Ibn ‘Abbās from beginning to end, stopping him at every verse and asking him about it.” Al-Thawrī said: “If an explanation of the Quran reaches you from Mujāhid, that is sufficient for you.” Leading scholars such as al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, al-Bukhārī, and others rely on his commentary. Indeed, most of the Quranic commentary that al-Bukhārī quotes in his Sahīh comes from him. Al-Hasan al-Basrī was the most knowledgeable of the Successors in Basra.

The explanation they quoted from Mujāhid is reliably established from him. Scholars such as Ibn Abī Hātim and others transmitted it through Warqā’, from Ibn Abī Najīh, from Mujāhid, concerning His words:

“This is a straight path leading to Me.”

He explained: “The truth returns to Allah, and its path leads to Him without turning aside to anything else.” He also reported that Qatādah explained it according to his own reading—he read it as ‘alayya—saying: “That is, lofty and straight.”

Likewise, Ibn Abī Hātim reported the early generations’ explanations of the verse in Sūrat al-Nahl. Through Warqā’, from Ibn Abī Najīh, he narrated that Mujāhid explained His words, “the straight path,” by saying: “The path of truth leads to Allah.” He said: “It was also narrated from al-Suddī that he said: ‘Islam.’” ‘Atā’ said: “It is the path to Paradise.”

These explanations of this verse—those of Mujāhid, al-Suddī, and ‘Atā’—are like the explanations given by Mujāhid and al-Hasan of the other verse. Ibn Abī Hātim also quoted, from al-‘Awfī’s commentary transmitted from Ibn ‘Abbās, concerning His words: