is from Him. Likewise, he would say, “His attributes are from Him,” and—he as well as the other imams would affirm—“Whatever Allah has described of Himself and whatever He has named of Himself.” There is no doubt that the same applies to all the attributes—power, life, hearing, sight, and so forth—for every one of these attributes is from Allah, that is, they fall within the very meaning of His Name.
Second: by their statement, “Allah’s speech is from Allah,” they intend that it proceeded from Him and that He Himself spoke it, just as He says: “Grave indeed is the word that issues from their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie” (1). Similarly, He states: “But the Word from Me became inevitable” (2), and: “The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise” (3).
Both this wording and this meaning are abundantly attested in the transmitted reports, as has already been related (4) from Ibn ʿAbbās (5): he was once attending a funeral, and when the deceased was laid in his niche… (6)
(1) Sura al-Kahf, verse 5.
(2) Sura as-Sajdah, verse 13.
(3) Sura az-Zumar, verse 1.
(4) In the S edition: “fama.”
(5) In the T edition: “riwayah” (reading).
(6) Al-Bayhaqi records this report in Al-Asma wa’l-Sifat, p. 242, stating: “Abu Bakr ibn al-Harith al-Faqih told us; Abu Muhammad ibn Hayyan narrated to us; Muhammad ibn al-Abbas narrated to us; Ishaq ibn Hatim al-‘Allaf related to us; Ali ibn ‘Asim from ‘Imran ibn Hudayr from Ikrima, who said: ‘Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) led a funeral prayer. When the deceased was lowered into the grave, a man said: “O Allah, Lord of the Qur’an, forgive him.” Ibn ‘Abbas replied: “Stop! Do not say such a thing; it began with Him and to Him it will return.”’
Ahmad ibn Mansur al-Ramadi transmitted it via Ali ibn ‘Asim, recording in his text: “Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) prayed over a funeral, and a man from the assembly said: ‘O Allah, Lord of the Mighty Qur’an, forgive him.’ Ibn ‘Abbas replied: ‘May your mother be bereaved; the Qur’an is from Him.’”
Al-Suyuti also records it in al-Durr al-Manthur (vol. 5, p. 326). This report was discussed above (pp. 294–295). On the following page, the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) notes that al-Tabarani transmitted it in his book [title missing].