—nor—also—should one say that it is “created,” for attributes are not themselves to be described in such terms.
Zarqān (1) related from him (2) that the Qur’an is of two kinds: if what is intended is the audible form, then Allah created the segmented sound that constitutes the outward form of the Qur’an; as for the Qur’an itself, it is an act of Allah, like knowledge and motion that proceed from Him—neither identical to Him nor wholly other than Him.
Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ al-Thaljī and those among the wāqifah (3) who agreed with him said: “The Qur’an is the speech of Allah. It is muḥdath—it came into being after not existing; it came to be by Allah, and He is the One who originated it.” Yet they refused to state unequivocally that it is either created or uncreated.
Zuhayr al-Atharī (4) said: “The Qur’an is the speech of Allah (5), muḥdath but not created, and it can exist in many different places at the same moment.”
I have also been informed that one of the jurists (6) (7) used to say: “Allah has always…"
(1) Abu Ya‘lā Muḥammad ibn Shaddād ibn ʿĪsā al-Masmīʿ al-Muʿtazilī, known as Zarqān; author of al-Maqālāt and one of al-Niẓām’s associates. He died in 278 AH. See: Ṭabaqāt al-Muʿtazilah by al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, p. 271; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl by al-Dhahabī, 3: 579; al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt by al-Ṣafadī, 3: 148–49.
(2) That is, from Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam. This is explicitly stated by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in al-Maqālāt 1: 114.
(3) The original reading was al-mawāfaqah (a scribal error); the correct reading is confirmed by manuscripts S and T and by al-Maqālāt.
(4) In manuscript S it appears as al-Abrī; in T as al-Ayrī. This is incorrect; the authentic form is in al-Maqālāt, and no biographical notice for him has been found. Dr Muḥammad Rashād Salīm, editor of Darʾ Taʾāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql (2: 19, note 6), notes: “Zuhayr al-Abrī: thus in all manuscripts, and I cannot identify Zuhayr al-Atharī, but al-Ashʿarī discusses his views at length in al-Maqālāt…” (see 1: 351).
(5) Originally kāna; this is a scribal error. Manuscripts S, T, and al-Maqālāt confirm the corrected reading.
(6) In manuscript T: al-muttafaqihīn (the jurists).
(7) The text enclosed in brackets is an addition from al-Maqālāt, which restores coherence to the passage.