Hassān ibn Muhammad, the jurist, say: ‘I asked Abū al-‘Abbās Ibn Surayj what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, meant by saying: “‘Say: He is Allah, the One’ is equivalent to one-third of the Quran.” He replied: “The Quran was revealed in three divisions: one-third consists of rulings, one-third of promises and warnings, and one-third of names and attributes. ‘Say: He is Allah, the One’ brings together one of these thirds, namely the attributes. Thus, it was said to be equivalent to one-third of the Quran.”’”

The second of the three explanations mentioned by Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī is that knowledge of Allah consists of knowledge of His essence, knowledge of His names and attributes, and knowledge of His actions. This surah encompasses knowledge of His essence, since everything that exists originates from something else, except Allah: He has no equal and nothing is like Him.

Abū al-Faraj said: “Some jurists of the early generations mentioned this.”

He continued: “The third explanation is that whoever acts upon what this surah contains—acknowledging Allah’s oneness and submitting to the Creator—is like someone who recites one-third of the Quran without acting upon what it contains. Ibn ‘Aqīl mentioned this.”

Ibn ‘Aqīl said: “It cannot mean that whoever recites it receives the reward of reciting one-third of the Quran, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

‘Whoever recites the Quran receives ten good deeds for every letter.’”

I say: Both explanations are weak. As for the first of these, its weakness is evident in several respects. First, we say that the Quran is not