al-Faraj ibn Yazīd; al-Kilāʿī (1) said: They said to ʿAlī on the Day of Ṣiffīn, “Have you appointed a disbeliever and a hypocrite as arbiter?” He replied, “I did not appoint any creature; I accepted only the Qurʾān.”
This wording overturns the interpretation of those who explain the statement of the early scholars by saying that “creature” (makhlūq) means “a fabricated lie,” whereas the Qurʾān is neither fabricated nor false. When they said, “You have appointed a creature,” they meant only a being that is owned, produced, and created by Allah, not something invented. Thus his statement,
“I did not appoint a creature”
negates the claim (2) they had made, and his statement,
“I appointed only the Qurʾān”
denies that the Qurʾān is created.
The same report has come from ʿAlī through a third chain (3).
As for the statement (4) of Ibn Masʿūd, it is among the reliably preserved reports (5) from him that was transmitted by
(1) He is Faraj ibn Yazid al-Kala‘i al-Shami. He transmitted from Yazid ibn Abi Malik and from al-Fudhayl ibn Fudhala al-Hawzani; the remainder of his narrations come through him, as well as from Utbah ibn al-Sakan al-Fazari. See: Jarh wa al-Ta‘dil (Criticism and Accreditation) by Ibn Abi Hatim, vol. 2, pt. 3, p. 86, no. 486.
(2) In manuscripts S and T it reads “lammā.”
(3) Abu al-Qasim al-Lalakai records in his Sharh I‘tiqad Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama‘ah (vol. 2, pp. 229–230) that al-Harith ibn Suwayd reported: Ali said, “People will dwindle until none remains to say la ilaha illa Allah. When that happens, the Champion of the Faith strikes his staff, and they assemble to him from the ends of the earth as autumn leaves are gathered. Then Ali added, ‘I know their leader’s name and the origins of their riders: they claim the Qur’an is created. It is neither creator nor created, but it is the word of God—its beginning is from Him and to Him it returns.’ ”
The editor of this work, Dr. Ahmad Hamdan (same vol. and pp.), comments that the chain of transmission includes unknown narrators and that some have judged the report unreliable, relying on al-Dhahabi’s Mizan al-I‘tidal.
(4) Abu al-Qasim al-Lalakai also transmits it in Sharh I‘tiqad Ahl al-Sunnah with the same chain cited by the Shaykh (may God have mercy on him), vol. 2, p. 232. It is furthermore recorded by ʿAbd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf from al-Thawri from al-ʿAmash from Ibrahim from Ibn Mas‘ud, vol. 8, p. 472 (ed. Habib al-Rahman al-A‘zami).
(5) In the original text it reads “an,” whereas manuscripts S and T confirm this reading; it is likely the correct one.