Yet al-Bukhārī narrated the Prophetic hadith on this subject through Ibn Abī Mulaykah, from al-Qāsim, from ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, without this addition. Nor did Ibn Abī Mulaykah mention hearing this addition from al-Qāsim. Rather, what is established from the Companions is that those firmly grounded in knowledge understand the ambiguous passages, as shown by the previously mentioned report of Muʿādh ibn Jabal on this subject. Similar reports are also transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, and others. The readings attributed to Ibn Masʿūd and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb have no known chain of transmission by which they could serve as evidence. What is well known from Ibn Masʿūd is that he used to say:

“There is no verse in Allah’s Book without my knowing what it was revealed about and what was intended by it.”

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 proceed beyond them until they understood the knowledge and practice they contained.”

This is widely known and has been transmitted from scholars of hadith and Quranic commentary generally. It has a known chain of transmission, unlike the readings attributed to those two Companions. Likewise, Ibn ʿAbbās is known to have said: “I am among those firmly grounded in knowledge who know its interpretation.” It is also authentically reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed that he be granted knowledge of the interpretation of the Book. How, then, could he not know its interpretation?

Moreover, ʿAbd Allāh’s reading, “Its interpretation is with Allah alone,” does not contradict this view, for only Allah can bring about its actual fulfillment. As He, exalted is He, says:

“Are they waiting for anything but its fulfillment? On the Day its fulfillment comes”

And He says:

“Rather, they have denied what they have not fully grasped, and whose fulfillment has not yet come to them.”