God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: "The Qur'an was revealed in seven ahruf (modes); disputation regarding the Qur'an is disbelief"—three times—"so whatever of it you recognize, act upon it, and whatever of it you are ignorant of, refer it to the one who knows it." (1)

8 - ʿUbayd ibn Asbāṭ ibn Muḥammad narrated to me, saying: My father narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salama, from Abū Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: "The Qur'an was revealed in seven ahruf (modes): All-Knowing, All-Wise, All-Forgiving, All-Merciful." (2)

9 - Abū Kurayb narrated to us, saying: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān narrated to me, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salama, from Abū Hurayra, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, the like of it.

10 - Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī narrated to us, saying: Jarīr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd narrated to us, from Mughīra, from Wāṣil ibn Ḥayyān, from someone he mentioned, from Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: "The Qur'an was revealed in seven ahruf (modes); for every mode thereof there is an exoteric aspect and an esoteric aspect, for every mode there is a limit (ḥadd), and for every limit there is a point of ascension." (3)