(1) He said: Muhammad ibn Shujaʿ related that one sect declared, “The Quran is the Creator,” while another claimed, “It is a part of Him.” Zurqan reported that the proponent of this latter view was Wakiʿ ibn al-Jarrah (2). A third group said, “Allah is (3) part of the Quran,” arguing that since His name occurs in the Quran, and “the name is identical with the One named,” Allah must therefore be in the Quran. Yet another faction asserted that the Quran is eternal, subsisting with Allah and preceded by nothing.
(4) Al-Ashʿari said: All who maintain that (5) the Quran is uncreated—such as ʿAbd Allah ibn Kullab—those who say it is muḥdath (newly originated)—such as Zuhayr—and those who describe it as ḥadaṯ (has come into being)—such as Abu Muʿadh al-Tumani (6)—agree that the Quran is neither a body nor an accident.
[I say] (7): Muhammad ibn Shujaʿ, Zurqan, and their ilk are from the Jahmiyyah; their citations of Ahl al-Sunnah positions are distorted. Al-Ashʿari himself, at the very beginning of his book al-Maqālāt (8), notes that he encountered such corruption in the transmission of doctrinal statements, for he said:
(1) The speaker is Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari, and the passage continues what precedes in al-Maqalat.
(2) In his work, the sheikh – may God have mercy on him – will note that Muhammad ibn Shuja‘ and Zurqan were among the Jahmiyya, and that their transmission from the Ahl al-Sunnah involves distortion; attributing this statement to Waki‘ is due to their corrupt interpretation. He further explains that Waki‘ ibn al-Jarrah was one of the most learned imams on the Jahmiyya and among the sternest in condemning them and dissuading people from their views, as evidenced by the texts he cites.
(3) The word “huwa” is omitted in al-Maqalat.
(4) “He said al-Ash‘ari”: an addition by the sheikh – may God have mercy on him – for clarification and elucidation. The passage continues what precedes in al-Maqalat.
(5) In both the manuscript and the printed edition: bi-ann (that).
(6) In both the manuscript and the printed edition: al-Tuni, which is incorrect. The definition was given above on p. 347.
(7) In the original: a blank space corresponding to four words. The text enclosed in quotation marks is an addition in both the manuscript and the printed edition.
(8) Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, vol. 1, p. 33.