Al-Bayhaqī likewise transmitted the report (1) through al-Barqānī, from the narration of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Būshanji (2), on the authority of Yūsuf ibn ʿAdī, al-Bukhārī’s teacher. He said, “Indeed Allah named Himself with that and did not attribute it to anyone else; that is His word: wa-kāna Allāhu—‘and Allah has ever been,’ meaning: He has never ceased to be so.”
Al-Bayhaqī also related it (3) by way of Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān [from Yūsuf] (4). The wording of the questioner is: “as though He were so and then it passed away,” whereas the wording cited from Ibn ʿAbbās is: “For Allah named Himself with that and did not assign it [to anyone] (5) besides Him; that is His word: wa-kāna Allāhu—‘and Allah has ever been,’ that is, He has never ceased (6).”
[The author remarks:] It is said: “You have made Zayd a scholar” when you deem him so within yourself, and “I made him a scholar” when I deem him so within myself (7); in other words, I held him to be a scholar. Allah, Exalted is He, says: wajʿalū al-malāʾikata alladhīna hum ʿibādu ar-Raḥmāni ināthan—“And they have made the angels, who are servants of the Most Merciful, females” (8), meaning:
(1) Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asmaʾ wa’l-Sifat, p. 382.
(2) In the original manuscript (source S) the name appears as al-Bushanjī; this reading is confirmed by the printed edition (source ṭ). He is Abu ’Abdallah Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd ibn ’Abd al-Raḥmān al-Faqīh al-Mālikī al-Bushanjī, the leading hadith scholar of his era in Nishapur. He died in 290 AH. See Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila 1:264–265; al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʼ 13:581–589; Ibn Ḥajar, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 9:7–10.
(3) Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asmaʾ wa’l-Sifat, p. 381.
(4) The text enclosed in quotation marks is an addition found in both sources S and ṭ.
(5) The text enclosed in quotation marks is an addition from al-Asmaʾ wa’l-Sifat by al-Bayhaqi.
(6) In the original and in S there is a blank space of about two words after lam yazal (he never ceased) at the end of the line, whereas ṭ presents the text without interruption. This gap marks the transition from Ibn ʿAbbās’s statement to the sheikh’s explanatory comment; accordingly, I have added the word qultu (I said) within the quotation marks.
(7) In the original, nafs; this reading is confirmed by both S and ṭ.
(8) Surah az-Zukhruf, verse 19.