“the Qur’an is the Creator,” while another faction asserted, “It is a part of Him.” Al-Khallāl, in his Kitāb al-Sunnah, records the entry on Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ and explains why Imām Aḥmad instructed the people of the Sunnah to boycott him.

Al-Khallāl (1) relates in the Questions of Abū al-Ḥārith: “I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh: Ibn al-Thallāj told me, ‘I heard a man say, “The Qur’an is Allah.”’ His (2) uncle responded, ‘We once spent the night with Aḥmad ibn Naṣr; Ibn al-Thallāj was with us, and so was ʿAbbās al-Aʿwar. ʿAbbās (3) then recited the verse,

‘And if you dispute over anything, refer it back to Allah’ (4),

and explained: ‘That means to the Book of Allah,’ and on that basis he constructs his interpretation.”

I said to him, “We (5) asked Ibn al-Thallāj, ‘Do you affirm that Allah has knowledge?’ (6) He replied, ‘I do not say that Allah has knowledge.’” Abū ʿAbd Allāh said, “Seek Allah’s forgiveness! (7)”

I then added, “I heard him say, ‘The speech of Allah is other than Allah.’” He replied, “Let him say whatever he wishes, and then convey it to me.” He went on, “Ibn al-Thallāj has complained about me.”

I conclude: This makes the root of the story clear. He had stated that ‘referring back to Allah’ means referring back to the Qur’an, and so it was reported from him that ‘the Qur’an is Allah.’ Perhaps his intention was to argue that the Qur’an is an attribute of Allah, and that referring to it is tantamount to referring to Allah Himself, because it is His speech subsisting in Him—just as referring to the Messenger is, in reality, referring to the words that subsisted in him. Had the Qur’an existed only within some created body, then referring back to it would be a return to that created body, not to Allah, exalted be He. Thus it came to be reported of him that he claimed the Qur’an to be the Creator. As for this Ibn al-Thallāj, he was among