Moreover, the first generations—the Companions, the Followers, and the rest of the Ummah—spoke about every text of the Quran, the verses on the divine attributes and all others, and they interpreted them in a manner that accords with their wording and evident import. They also transmitted from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, many hadiths that are in full harmony with the Quran, and the leading authorities among the Companions excelled all others in this respect. One such authority was ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, who used to say: “If I knew of anyone more knowledgeable of the Book of Allah than I, and camels could reach him, I would travel to him.” Another was ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās—for whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed and who was called the scholar of the Ummah and the interpreter of the Quran. He and his disciples, together with the disciples of Ibn Masʿūd, were among the greatest of the Companions and Followers in affirming the attributes and transmitting them from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Anyone experienced in hadith and tafsīr recognizes this fact.

Among the Followers there were none more eminent than the pupils of those two masters; indeed, a third figure among the upper echelon of the Followers was of their calibre or close to it, and of comparable stature were the students of Zayd ibn Thābit. Yet Zayd’s pupils, illustrious as they were, did not take exclusively from him; they also learned from others such as ʿUmar, Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn ʿAbbās. Had the meanings of these verses been nullified or left entirely unspoken, the god-fearing scholars among the Companions—those most learned in the Book and the Sunnah—would not have been the ones who discussed them the most.

Furthermore, the Companions reported that they used to learn the explanation (tafsīr) from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, together with the recitation, and no one ever related that he refused to clarify a single verse. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī said: “Those who taught us the Quran—ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, and others—told us that whenever they learned ten verses from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, they would not move on until they had learned the knowledge and the action contained therein. They said, ‘Thus we learned the Quran along with knowledge and action.’”

Likewise, whenever the great imams were asked about any of these matters, they did not deny the meaning; rather, they affirmed the meaning while denying knowledge of the modality (kayfiyyah). Thus Mālik ibn Anas, when questioned about the Almighty’s words,

“ar-Raḥmān ʿalā—” (the All-Merciful ...)