and to make it non-Arabic; it is speech that He Himself utters, not a created entity existing outside of Him.
As for the foremost authorities among the hadith scholars, the jurists, the Sufis, and the various schools of kalām who, from early times, opposed the Muʿtazila—among them the Murjiʾa, the Shiʿa, then the Karrāmiyya, and others—they dissent on this point, holding that these acts which subsist in His very Essence are governed by His will and power.
The disciples of Imām Aḥmad have likewise disagreed over this matter (1), just as other scholars have, and Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz recorded two opinions from them in al-Muqniʿ (2).
Al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī (3) also transmitted the two positions (4) on behalf of the Ahl al-Sunnah, yet the explicit, unequivocal statement from Imām Aḥmad and the other leading champions of the Sunnah supports this view.
(1) Sheikh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) referred to this dispute in his work Darʾ taʿarruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql (Vol. 2, pp. 18–19).
(2) These two views are mentioned by Sheikh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) in Darʾ taʿarruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql (2:18), and he notes that Abu Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAziz records them in his al-Shāfī, stating:
"Abu Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, in al-Shāfī, reports from the followers of Ahmad two opinions on the created nature of the Qurʾān, both based on this principle: first, that it is eternal and not dependent on His will and power; second, that it has always been a speaker whenever He wills."
Note: Abu Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Jaʿfar Ghulām al-Khallāl is the author of al-Muqniʿ (see above, p. 333) and of al-Shāfī, and it is likely in the latter work that he recorded these two views from the followers of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him).
(3) He is al-Harith ibn Asad al-Muhasabi (Abu ʿAbdallah), one of the leading early Sufis. Imam Ahmad distanced himself from him and instructed his students to avoid him because he engaged in speculative theology (kalam). He died in Baghdad in 243 AH. See: Tarikh Baghdad by al-Baghdadi, Vol. 8, pp. 211–216; Mizan al-Iʿtidal by al-Dhahabi, Vol. 1, pp. 430–431; Shadharāt al-Dhahab by Ibn al-ʿImād, Vol. 2, p. 103.
(4) In his Fahm al-Qurʾān (p. 245), al-Harith reports that the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah held two opinions on this matter, preferring the view of Ibn Kullāb, and he discusses this under the verse: “And say, ‘Do [your] deeds; then Allah will see your deeds, and [so will] His Messenger and the believers.’” (Qurʾān 9:105).