—he was one of the Jahmiyyah—and for this reason the authors of the works on sects and doctrines (1) have recorded this about him.
Abu al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī said in his Book of Sects (2):
“Concerning the Qur’an: the Muʿtazilah, the Khārijites, most of the Zaydīs, the Murjiʾah and many of the Rāfiḍah say, ‘The Qur’an is the speech of Allah and it is created by Allah; it did not exist, and then it came into existence.’”
And (3) Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam (4) and those who followed his view said: “The Qur’an is an attribute of Allah; it should not be said (5) that it is created, nor that it is the Creator.” Such (6) is the report transmitted about him.
Al-Balkhī (7) further added in his account of him (8) that he said, “One must not say that it is uncreated either.”
= See Lisan al-Arab by Ibn Manzur, vol. 6, p. 32. The sense is that the Jahmiyyah hide behind Ibn al-Thulaji.
(1) In both the manuscript and the printed edition: “hakā” (he reported).
(2) Maqālāt al-Islamiyyīn wa Ikhtilāf al-Musallīn by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, vol. 2, pp. 256–259.
(3) In the manuscript: “wakāna” (and he was). This is a scribal error.
(4) Abū Muḥammad Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam al-Shaybānī (d. ca. 190 AH) of Kufa and Baghdad was a leading figure among the Rāfiḍah and a mujassim (anthropomorphist). Ibn Qutaybah attributes reprehensible statements to him. See Ibn Qutaybah, Ta’wīl Mukhtalif al-Ḥadīth, p. 35; al-Dhahabī, Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, 10: 543–544; Ibn Ḥajar, Lisān al-Mīzān, 6: 194.
(5) In al-Maqālāt: la yajūzu an yuqāl… (“it is not permissible to say…”).
(6) In all the copies: hādhihi (“this”). This reading is confirmed by al-Maqālāt and renders the passage coherent.
(7) In all the copies: al-Thulaji. Confirmed by al-Maqālāt and likely correct. He is Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Maḥmūd al-Kaʿbī al-Balkhī (d. 319 AH), author of Maqālāt al-Islamiyyīn; see his biography and the writings on his followers, p. 1091. Ibn al-Thulaji’s view will appear below; it is reported in Maqālāt 1: 114: “And some narrators on al-Maqālāt, recounting Hishām, added that he used to say:…”.
(8) The phrase “anhu” (“concerning him”) is omitted in al-Maqālāt.