Baqiyyah said, “Ibn ʿUyaynah called me as a witness to this report of ʿUtbah.”

Thus, Muʿādh censures those who pursue ambiguous passages with the intention of causing discord. As for those whose purpose is understanding, he states that Allah will surely grant them, through understanding the ambiguous passages, an insight such as no people have ever attained.

They said: The evidence for this is that whenever a Companion encountered a difficulty concerning a verse or hadith, he would ask about it. Thus, ʿUmar asked the Prophet, “Did you not tell us that we would come to the House and circumambulate it?” ʿUmar also asked him, “Why do we shorten the prayer when we are now safe?”

When Allah’s words were revealed:

“and do not mix their faith with wrongdoing,”

they found this distressing and said, “Which of us has not wronged himself?” Then he explained it to them. Likewise, when His words were revealed:

“Whether you reveal what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it,”

they found this distressing until he explained the wisdom behind it to them.

When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Whoever is subjected to a detailed examination of his account will be punished,” ʿĀʾishah asked, “Did Allah not say, ‘He will receive an easy reckoning’?” He replied, “That refers only to the presentation of one’s deeds.”

They said: The consensus of the early generations also supports what we have stated, for they explained the entire Quran. Mujāhid said, “I went through the Quran with Ibn ʿAbbās from beginning to end, stopping him at every verse and asking him about it.”

They received this from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī said: “Those who taught us the Quran—ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, and others—told us that whenever they learned ten verses from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they would not go beyond them until