Al-Athram (1) said, “So I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh, ‘If someone says that the Qur’an is created, yet adds, “I do not say that the names (2) of Allah or His knowledge are created,” and says nothing beyond this, may I judge him to be a disbeliever?’ He replied, ‘Such is our ruling concerning him.’
Abū ʿAbd Allāh said, “Do we (3) have any room to doubt this? In our view the Qur’an contains the names of Allah, and it derives from the knowledge of Allah; therefore, whoever (4) says that it is created is, in our estimation, a disbeliever.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh then said, “I have been informed that Abū Khālid (5), Mūsā ibn Manṣūr (6), and others sit over there disparaging our stance. They advocate this position—that one should say neither ‘created’ nor ‘uncreated’—and they vilify anyone who declares others to be disbelievers, (7)
(1) Al-Athram notes that “sāqitah” (dropped) is omitted in the sunnah; perhaps this is an explanatory addition by the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—and the commentary flows from the preceding discussion.
(2) The particle “in” is omitted in the sunnah.
(3) In the sunnah one finds “naḥnu” (we), used here as a rhetorical interrogative.
(4) The original reads “fa-huwa” (so he), which is meaningless. Manuscripts S, T, and the sunnah confirm the corrected reading.
(5) The original reads “Abu Musa,” a scribal error. Manuscripts S, T, and the sunnah attest the proper reading. The narrator is Abd al-Aziz ibn Aban al-Umawi al-Kufi, one of the Matruqa (abandoned narrators), who settled in Baghdad and died in 207 AH. Yahya ibn Maʿin described him as “a malicious liar who fabricated hadith,” and Ahmad ibn Hanbal refused to record his reports. See al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 2:622–623; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 6:329–331.
(6) The original reads “Khalid ibn Mansur,” a scribal error. Manuscripts S, T, and the sunnah confirm the correct reading. He is Musa ibn Mansur ibn Hisham al-Lakhmi, whom Ibn Yunus labeled a hadith denier. See al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-Iʿtidal, 4:224; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan, 6:132.
(7) All copies read “an,” and the passage is coherent with the reading attested in the sunnah.