And as when they say:

“By the fig”: Abū Bakr;
“and the olive”: Umar;
“and Mount Sinai”: Uthmān;
“and this secure city”: Alī.

And as when they say:

“By Time! Surely humanity is in loss—except those who believe”: Abū Bakr;
“and do righteous deeds”: Umar;
“and urge one another to the truth”: Uthmān;
“and urge one another to patience”: Alī.

These interpretations belong to the same class as [those] (1) interpretations, though they are more plausible than the heretical distortions of the Rāfidis, such as their assertion:

“We have enumerated everything in a clear register” [Surah Yā Sīn:]: Alī.

And their assertion:

“Indeed, it is in the Mother of the Book with Us, exalted and all-wise” [Surah al-Zukhruf: 4]: that is, Alī ibn Abī Tālib;

and:

“the accursed tree in the Quran” [Surah al-Isrā: 60]: the Banū Umayya.

These and similar statements would not be uttered (2) by anyone who stands in due awe of Allah’s majesty, nor would anyone who (3) believes in Allah and His Book utter them.

The same applies to the claim:

“He released the two seas, meeting side by side” [Surah al-Rahmān: 19]: Alī and Fātimah;

“Between them is a barrier, so neither transgresses” [Surah al-Rahmān: 20]: the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace;

“From both emerge pearls and coral” [Surah al-Rahmān: 22]: al-Hasan and al-Husayn.

Anyone with even the slightest knowledge and reason knows as a matter of necessity that this interpretation is false and that Ibn Abbās never said this.

This comes from (4) the exegesis found in al-Thalabī’s Tafsīr. He cited it from Sufyān al-Thawrī through a chain whose transmitters are unknown and unidentifiable. It is a fabrication falsely attributed to Sufyān. He said