Ahmad’s remarks in his refutation of the heretics and the Jahmiyyah concerning the ambiguous passages of the Quran about which they entertained doubts and which they misinterpreted, together with his statement that the Jahmiyyah interpreted three ambiguous verses, followed by his explanation of their meaning, demonstrate that, in his view, scholars know the meaning of the ambiguous passages. What is blameworthy is interpreting them incorrectly. Explaining them in accordance with their meaning, however, is praiseworthy, not blameworthy. This implies that, in his view, those firmly grounded in knowledge know the correct interpretation of the ambiguous passages—what the early generations called explanation.

Thus, neither Ahmad nor anyone else among the early generations said that the Quran contains verses whose meaning neither the Messenger nor anyone else knows, but whose wording they recite without understanding it. This position was adopted by many of Ahl al-Sunnah, including Ibn Qutaybah, Abū Sulaymān al-Dimashqī, and others.

Ibn Qutaybah was among those affiliated with Ahmad and Ishāq who championed the well-known doctrines of the Sunnah. He wrote numerous works on this subject. The author of An Account of the Merits of the Scholars of Hadith said of him:

“He was one of the most distinguished imams, scholars, and men of virtue, the finest among them in composition and the best in organizing his material. He wrote approximately three hundred works and inclined towards the teachings of Ahmad and Ishāq. He was a contemporary of Ibrāhīm al-Harbī and Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazī. The people of the Maghrib held him in great esteem and would say: ‘Anyone who considers it permissible to disparage Ibn Qutaybah is suspected of heresy.’ They would also say: ‘There is no good in a house that contains none of his writings.’”

I say: