merely at fault, and Allah may pardon him, for Allah has not made it obligatory upon every Muslim to retain all that has been reported on the subject. But whoever denies it after knowledge has reached him, abandons the way of the righteous forebears, and wrestles with the very text—his case is left to Allah. We seek refuge in Allah from deviation and desire.
Ibn Khuzaymah’s statement—although true—is blunt, and the souls of many later scholars cannot easily accept such severity.
Abū al-Walīd Ḥassān ibn Muḥammad, the jurist, said: I heard Ibn Khuzaymah say, “The Quran is the Speech of Allah, Most High. Whoever claims it is created is a disbeliever; he is to be asked to repent, and if he repents, so be it; otherwise, he is to be executed and not buried in the Muslims’ graveyards.”
Ibn Khuzaymah holds great esteem in people’s hearts and commands reverence in their minds because of his knowledge, his piety, and his adherence to the Sunnah.
His work on tawḥīd (divine oneness) is a large volume, and within it he interprets the ḥadīth of the Divine Form (1).
(1) Ḥadith al-ṣura (“the hadith of the Form”). Reported by al-Bukhari, Ṣaḥiḥ, vol. 11, p. 2 (Book of Seeking Permission, opening chapter); Muslim, no. 2841 (Book of Paradise, chapter: “People who will enter Paradise whose hearts are like the hearts of birds”); Aḥmad, Musnad, 2/315; and Ibn Khuzayma, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, pp. 39–40, all through the chain Muʿammar – Hammām b. Munabbih – Abū Hurayra: “Allah created Adam according to His form; his height was sixty cubits. When He had created him He said: ‘Go and greet that group of seated angels and listen to how they answer you, for their reply will be your greeting and that of your descendants.’ He went and said, ‘Peace be upon you,’ and they replied, ‘Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.’ They added: ‘and the mercy of Allah.’ Everyone who enters Paradise will have the form of Adam; mankind has been decreasing in stature ever since.”
Also transmitted by Muslim, no. 2612 (115); Aḥmad, 2/463 and 2/519; and Ibn Khuzayma, p. 37, through the chain Qatāda – Abū Ayyūb al-Marāghī – Abū Hurayra: “When one of you fights his brother, he must avoid the face, for Allah created Adam according to his form.”
Also recorded by Aḥmad, 2/244; al-Ājurri, al-Sharīʿa, p. 143; and al-Bayhaqi, al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt, p. 290, through the chain Sufyān – Abū l-Zinād – al-Aʿraj – Abū Hurayra; and by Aḥmad, 2/323, through the chain al-Mughīra b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān – Abū l-Zinād – Mūsā …