- Fazlak the Goldsmith, al-Fadl ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Rāzī
The Imām, ḥāfiẓ, and meticulous scholar, Abū Bakr al-Fadl ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Rāzī, author of several works.
He received ḥadīths from ʿĪsā ibn Mīnā Qālūn, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Uwaysī, Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd, Hudbah ibn Khālid, and others of their rank.
Those who transmitted from him include Abū ʿAwānah al-Isfarāyinī, Abū Bakr al-Kharāʾiṭī, Muḥammad ibn Makhlad al-ʿAṭṭār, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Muṭayrī, and many more.
Al-Marwadhī said, “A letter reached me from the region of Shīrāz reporting that Fazlak had declared in their locality, ‘Indeed, faith (īmān) is created.’ I was later informed that they expelled him from the town with the help of the authorities.” (1)
I say: This is among the issues of idle curiosity, and silence concerning it is preferable. What has been soundly transmitted from the early generations and the scholars of tradition is that faith consists of words and deeds. There is no doubt that our deeds are created, for He, Exalted is He, says, “while Allah created you and what you do” (Q 37:96).
Accordingly, it is established that a portion of faith is created. Our statement “lā ilāha illā Allāh” (there is no god but Allah) is part of our faith, and our very utterance of it is likewise one of our deeds. As for the essence of the uttered phrase itself, it is uncreated, because it is part of the Quran—may Allah protect us from trials and from following whims.