قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام إِنَّ الْقُرْآنَ فِيهِ مُحْكَمٌ وَ مُتَشَابِهٌ فَأَمَّا الْمُحْكَمُ فَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَ نَعْمَلُ بِهِ وَ نَدِينُ بِهِ وَ أَمَّا الْمُتَشَابِهُ فَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَ لَا نَعْمَلُ بِهِ وَ هُوَ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ فِي كِتَابِهِ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ ما تَشابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَ ابْتِغاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ وَ ما يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَ الرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ ١
Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him: The Qur'an has firm verses and ambiguous ones. As for the firm part of the Qur'an, we believe in it and act upon it and make it our religion; but as for the ambiguous, we believe that it is Qur'an and do not act upon it. And that is the word of God the Exalted: "As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow the ambiguous part of it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation [according to their own desire], though none knows its interpretation but God and those firmly rooted in knowledge."
«30»- كِتَابُ مُثَنَّى بْنِ الْوَلِيدِ، عَنْ مَنْصُورِ بْنِ حَازِمٍ قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام عَنْ مَسْأَلَةٍ فَقُلْتُ أَسْأَلُكَ عَنْهَا ثُمَّ يَسْأَلُكَ غَيْرِي فَتُجِيبُهُ بِغَيْرِ الْجَوَابِ الَّذِي أَجَبْتَنِي بِهِ فَقَالَ إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ يَسْأَلُنِي عَنِ الْمَسْأَلَةِ يَزِيدُ فِيهَا الْحَرْفَ فَأُعْطِيهِ عَلَى قَدْرِ مَا زَادَ وَ يَنْقُصُ الْحَرْفَ فَأُعْطِيهِ عَلَى قَدْرِ مَا يَنْقُصُ.
The book of Muthanna b. al-Walid: Mansur b. Hazim said: I asked Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him: I ask you a question and then another asks you the same question, and you give him an answer other than the answer you gave me! He said: A man asks me a question and speaks much, so I answer that man to the measure of what he has spoken in his question; and another asks a question and speaks little, so I give him the same small measure.
«31»- ف، تحف العقول كَانَ لِأَبِي يُوسُفَ ٢كَلَامٌ مَعَ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ عليهما السلام فِي مَجْلِسِ الرَّشِيدِ فَقَالَ الرَّشِيدُ بَعْدَ كَلَامٍ طَوِيلٍ لِمُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ عليهما السلام بِحَقِّ آبَائِكَ لَمَّا اخْتَصَرْتَ كَلِمَاتٍ جَامِعَةً لِمَا تَجَارَيْنَاهُ فَقَالَ نَعَمْ وَ أُتِىَ بِدَوَاةٍ وَ قِرْطَاسٍ فَكَتَبَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ جَمِيعُ أُمُورِ الْأَدْيَانِ أَرْبَعَةٌ أَمْرٌ لَا اخْتِلَافَ فِيهِ وَ هُوَ إِجْمَاعُ الْأُمَّةِ عَلَى الضَّرُورَةِ الَّتِي يُضْطَرُّونَ إِلَيْهَا الْأَخْبَارِ الْمُجْمَعِ عَلَيْهَا وَ هِيَ الْغَايَةُ الْمَعْرُوضُ عَلَيْهَا كُلُّ شُبْهَةٍ وَ الْمُسْتَنْبَطُ مِنْهَا كُلُّ حَادِثَةٍ وَ أَمْرٌ يَحْتَمِلُ الشَّكَّ وَ الْإِنْكَارَ فَسَبِيلُهُ اسْتِنْصَاحُ أَهْلِهِ لِمُنْتَحِلِيهِ بِحُجَّةٍ مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ مُجْمَعٍ عَلَى تَأْوِيلِهَا وَ سُنَّةٍ مُجْمَعٍ عَلَيْهَا لَا اخْتِلَافَ فِيهَا أَوْ قِيَاسٍ تَعْرِفُ الْعُقُولُ عَدْلَهُ وَ لَا يَسَعُ خَاصَّةَ الْأُمَّةِ وَ عَامَّتَهَا الشَّكُّ فِيهِ وَ الْإِنْكَارُ لَهُ وَ هَذَانِ الْأَمْرَانِ مِنْ أَمْرِ التَّوْحِيدِ فَمَا دُونَهُ وَ أَرْشِ الْخَدْشِ فَمَا فَوْقَهُ فَهَذَا الْمَعْرُوضُ الَّذِي يُعْرَضُ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُ الدِّينِ فَمَا ثَبَتَ لَكَ بُرْهَانُهُ اصْطَفَيْتَهُ وَ مَا غَمَضَ عَلَيْكَ صَوَابُهُ نَفَيْتَهُ فَمَنْ أَوْرَدَ وَاحِدَةً مِنْ هَذِهِ
Tuhaf al-'Uqul: He had a long conversation with Abu Yusuf the judge, which is not the place here… Then al-Rashid said: By the right of your fathers, summarise for us comprehensive words concerning the affairs we are engaged in. He said: Very well. They brought an inkwell and paper, and he wrote: In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. All the matters of religion are four: 1. Matters on which there is no disagreement, which are agreed upon by the community and which they need of necessity. 2. Agreed-upon reports, which are the final goal, to which every ambiguity is presented and from which every new case is derived; and that is the consensus of the community. 3. A matter that is subject to doubt and open to denial; and its way is that clarification be sought from the one skilled in it and that its proof be sought from them — from the verses of the Qur'an whose interpretation is agreed upon, and from a practice that all accept and in which there is no disagreement. 4. A rule that is just in the view of all minds and in which neither the elite nor the generality of the community have any doubt or denial. And these two matters run from the oneness of God and what is below it down to the blood-money of a scratch on the body and above it.