that the reciter’s voice or the scribe’s ink is the speech of Allah—the speech that is uncreated—has erred. This is the very distinction Imam Ahmad explained to the man who questioned him. The man had recited, “Say: He is Allah, One” (1) and then said, “This is the speech of Allah, uncreated.” Imam Ahmad replied, “Yes.” The questioner later reported that Imam Ahmad had said, “My utterance of the Qur’an is uncreated.” Imam Ahmad therefore summoned him, rebuked him severely (2), and demanded that he be punished and disciplined. He asked, “Did I tell you, ‘My utterance of the Qur’an is uncreated’?” The man answered, “No; but when I recited, ‘Say: He is Allah, One’ (3) you said, ‘This is the speech of Allah, uncreated.’” Imam Ahmad responded, “Then why do you report from me what I never said (4)?”
(1) Sūrah al-Ṣamad (al-Ikhlās), verse 1.
(2) The expression zabarahu zabran shadīdan (“he gave him a severe rebuke”) means that he forbade and reproved him. Al-zabr denotes admonition and restraint. See Lisan al-Arab, vol. 4, p. 315 (s.v. “zabr”).
(3) Sūrah al-Ṣamad (al-Ikhlās), verse 1.
(4) Abu Bakr al-Khallāl records in his Musnad (al-Sunnah, manuscript, folio 196) a report from the inquiries of Abu ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. He relates that Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Warrāq, via Ṣāliḥ, informed Ahmad’s father that Abū Ṭālib was attributing to him the statement “My recitation of the Qurʾān is uncreated.” Ahmad’s father summoned Abū Ṭālib, angrily denied having made such a claim, and ordered him to erase it from his book and to inform those to whom he had sent it that the statement was never uttered. Al-Dhahabī comments on this incident in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 11, pp. 288–289, after recounting the above.