anything that Allah has affirmed for Himself of names and attributes. He frames his objective in those terms, so that anyone unaware of what he actually means assumes that the purpose is to declare the Lord’s transcendence as set out in the Quran—namely to confirm His absolute oneness and self-sufficiency. In truth, however, he has smuggled into those expressions whatever he personally believes must be denied, wording it accordingly and adopting a private convention agreed upon by himself and those who share his doctrine. Such terminology is unknown to the Arabic language in which the Quran was revealed, and indeed to the language of any nation. Yet he then makes that invented meaning the very definition of al-Ahad, al-Samad, al-Wahid, and similar names that occur in the Book and the Sunnah.” End of quote from Majmuʿ al-Fatāwā (17/351-352).
From these passages taken directly from the Shaykh, the falsity of the lies his enemies attribute to him becomes plain … and all praise is due to Allah.
- They claim that he held the Quran to be a recent utterance, not eternal. The answer is to cite the Shaykh’s own words on the issue. He said in Majmuʿ al-Fatāwā (12/54):
“The early Muslims said, ‘The Quran is the speech of Allah, sent down, not created,’ and they also said, ‘He has never ceased to be speaking whenever He wills.’ Thus they made clear that Allah’s speech is eternal—that is, its kind is without beginning. None of them ever said that a particular, specific utterance is itself eternal, nor did anyone say, ‘The Quran is eternal.’ Rather, they said, ‘It is the speech of Allah, sent down, not created.’ When Allah spoke the Quran by His will, it became His speech, revealed and uncreated, yet it was not thereby co-eternal with Allah. Although He has never ceased to be speaking whenever He wills, the genus of His speech is eternal. Whoever understands the words of the early Muslims and distinguishes between these expressions will find that the doubts surrounding these thorny questions—which have thrown people everywhere into confusion—are dispelled …” End of quote.