He then said, “I only say ‘the Speech of Allah’ just as I say ‘Allah’s sky’ ⦗1⦘ and ‘Allah’s earth’ ⦗2⦘.”
He continued, “And what, ⦗3⦘ exactly, did Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal stand for?”
Again he remarked, “They ⦗4⦘ have taught you kalam (speculative theology),” and he gestured toward the district of al-Karkh ⦗5⦘, referring to Abū Thawr and others. We rose and left him, and we did not speak to him again until he died.
Al-Khallāl transmitted through two chains from Ziyād ibn Ayyūb ⦗6⦘ who said: “I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ‘O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, are the scholars of the Wāqifah Jahmīs?’ He replied, ‘Yes—such as Ibn al-Thallāj and his argumentative companions.’”
I therefore say: Even if, hypothetically, some of those who affirm the attributes were to state that the Qurʾān—or any other attribute—is a part of Him ⦗7⦘, this assertion must be rejected: either because an attribute inhering in the subject, such as knowledge or speech, is not described as “a part of it,” or because the Lord, Blessed
(1) In Ta it reads “Asma.”
(2) In S and Ta it reads “fa-innahu min Allah” instead of “ard Allah.”
(3) It appears in Lisan al-Mizan by al-Dhahabi (vol. 3, p. 577): “Eish qama bihi Ahmad?” Dhahabi cites this to show that Ibn al-Thalji disparages Imam Ahmad and his companions.
(4) The word “qad” is omitted in S and Ta.
(5) Karkh (with an open kaf, a silent raʾ, and a non-Arabic khaʾ) in Iraq. Yaqut al-Hamawi remarks: “I do not consider it Arabic; it is rather Nabatean…” It is a small flourishing settlement on the eastern bank of the Tigris, west of Baghdad. See Mu'jam al-Buldan (Yaqut al-Hamawi, 4:447) and al-Rawd al-Miʿtar fi Jund al-Aqtar (pp. 490–491).
(6) He is Abu Hashim Ziyad ibn Ayyub ibn Ziyad al-Tusi, known as Dalwiyah; al-Bukhari, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, and others narrated from him. Abu Hatim considered him reliable. He died in 252 AH. See al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil (Ibn Abi Hatim, 1/2:525); Tabaqat al-Hanabila (Ibn Abi Ya'la, 1:156–158); Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' (al-Dhahabi, 12:120–123).
(7) i.e., ba'd Allah.