‘My uncle narrated to us⦗1⦘ and said: “I heard Wakiʿ ibn al-Jarrah declare, ‘Whoever claims that the Qur’an is created has, in fact, claimed that something from Allah is created.’ I therefore asked him, ‘O Abu Sufyan, on what basis have you said this?’ He replied, ‘Because⦗2⦘ Allah says, {But the word from Me came to be fulfilled}⦗3⦘, and nothing that proceeds from Allah can ever be created⦗4⦘.’ ”
Al-Lalakai⦗5⦘ commented: “The same explanation was given by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād, al-Hasan ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Bazzār, and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Yaḥyā al-Kinānī⦗6⦘.”
This is the exact wording of Wakiʿ ibn al-Jarrah—whom Zurqān so designated⦗7⦘—and it is likewise the wording of the other imams whose statement Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ distorted⦗8⦘. Their phrase “Allah’s speech is from Allah” conveys two matters:
First: it is one of His attributes, and an attribute falls⦗9⦘ within the very denotation of His Name. This is just as Imam Ahmad⦗10⦘ said: “Knowledge is from Allah and belongs to Him, and Allah’s knowledge…"
(1) In the original: “ḥaddathani.” It is attested in S, Ṭ, and in the Sharḥ Usūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah.
(2) In S: “lā an.”
(3) Surah As-Sajdah, verse 13.
(4) In the original and in S it reads makhlūq (created). In the Sharḥ Usūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah the phrase is “yakūn min Allāh shay’un makhlūq” (“something created would be from God”). The reading is confirmed by Ṭ.
(5) Sharḥ Usūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah (al-Lalkā’ī), vol. 2, p. 220.
(6) In the Sharḥ Usūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah by Yahya al-Kinānī, mentioned above.
(7) I.e., his name was cited when attributing to him the view of the sect that claims the Quran is part of the Creator. Shaykh al-Islām (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted Waki’s opinion to demonstrate that these Jahmiyya distort the transmissions of the Ahl al-Sunnah to suit their desires.
(8) In S: “alladhi.”
(9) In the original, S reads yadkhul (enters). The reading is confirmed by Ṭ.
(10) When ’Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq said to him, “God existed without the Quran,” Imam Ahmad replied, “God existed without knowledge—for knowledge is from God.”