He likewise states in his treatise ar-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah (1): “Allah has ever been All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Sovereign—no ‘when’ and no ‘how.’”
For that reason Imām Aḥmad and others argued that the speech of Allah is uncreated, citing the fact that the Prophet —peace and blessings be upon him— sought refuge in the perfect words of Allah (2) in more than one ḥadīth, saying: “I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah.”
Thus, in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Prophet —peace and blessings be upon him— used to offer protective supplication for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, saying:
“I seek protection for both of you in the perfect words of Allah.” (3)
—and he mentioned the remainder of the report.
Likewise, in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, from Khawlah bint Ḥakīm, the Prophet —peace and blessings be upon him— said:
“If one of you, upon stopping at a place, were to say, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah,’” (4)
—and he went on to relate the rest of the narration.
(1) Al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya wa al-Zanadiqa (Refutation of the Jahmiyya and the Heretics), p. 134.
(2) The term al-tammāt (the perfect words) is omitted in manuscripts S and T.
(3) It was narrated by al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Ibn ’Abbās with the wording: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to seek refuge for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, saying, ‘Indeed, your father used it to seek refuge for Ismā‘īl and Isḥāq. I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allāh from every devil and venomous creature, and from every envious eye.’” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4/119, Book of the Prophets, ch. 10). The hadith in the form cited by the Shaykh was also recorded by Abū Dāwūd (Sunan Abū Dāwūd 5/104, Book of Sunnah, ch. on Qur’ānic invocations, no. 4737), who commented that this is proof of the Qur’ān’s uncreatedness; by at-Tirmidhī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī 4/396, Book on Medicine, ch. 18, no. 2060); and by Ibn Mājah (Sunan Ibn Mājah 2/1164, Book on Medicine, ch. “What the Prophet sought refuge with,” no. 3525).
(4) It was narrated by Muslim from Khawla bint Ḥakīm al-Sulāmīyah that she said: I heard the Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) say, “Whoever settles in a dwelling and says, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allāh from the evil of what He created,’ nothing will harm him until he departs from that dwelling.” The hadith in the wording cited by the Shaykh (may Allāh have mercy on him) was recorded by Ibn Mājah (Sunan Ibn Mājah 2/1174, Book of Medicine, ch. on panic and insomnia and what one seeks refuge from, no. 3547) and by al-Darimī (al-Jāmiʻ al-Ṣaḥīḥ 2/200, Book of Permission to Enter, ch. on what one says upon entering a dwelling, hadith no. [number not specified]).