as well as Abū Yaʿlā, Ibn ʿAqīl, and Abū al-Hasan al-Zāghūnī—this being his very wording ⦗1⦘. He said:
“The second path is that of reason, and it contains several proofs. We shall cite the clearest of those upon which reliance is placed, and therefore we say ⦗2⦘:
If the Speech of Allah were created, it would necessarily be created either in a locus or in no locus at all. Should it be in a locus, that locus must be either the Essence of the Creator, glorified be He, or some created essence other than His ⦗3⦘. It is impossible that He created it within His own Essence, for that would make His Essence a receptacle for temporal events—something all the leading imams unanimously deem impossible. Equally impossible is that it reside in a locus that is an essence other than His—exalted is He—for that…"
What I have established is correct, God willing. In addition, those mentioned among the Hanbali scholars are all those whose views have been corroborated by at least one of them. They are listed here according to the chronology of their deaths: Qadi Abu Ya‘la (d. 458 AH), Ibn ‘Aqil (d. 513 AH), and Ibn al-Zaghuni (d. 527 AH).
He also agrees with Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari on certain points. See: al-Dir‘ (ed. al-Zarkashi), vol. 3: 322, 324–325; vol. 7: 74; vol. 10: 233.
(1) That is, the expression al-Juwayni.
(2) In the margin of manuscript s: “Pause at the words of Imam Abu al-Hasan Ibn al-Zaghuni—may Allah have mercy on him.” The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his work Dar‘ Ta‘arud al-‘Aql wa-l-Naql (vol. 2: 244–245) that this is the well-known method adopted by al-Ash‘ari and his adherents regarding the Qur’an, and by those among the followers of Ahmad, al-Shafi‘i, Malik, and Abu Hanifa who concur with them on this principle.
He adds that this classification was anticipated by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Kinani, author of al-Ha’idah, then says—may Allah have mercy on him: “One might assume that their statement is identical to his own, that he was merely echoing their words, that God’s essence does not include what pertains to His power and will, or that his formulation is on a par with that of Ibn Kilab, but that is not the case….”
(3) In the original: dhātu; in manuscript s: dāt; the reading confirmed by the printed edition.