—just as He has said: “after the knowledge that has come to you” (1). In it there is of Allah’s knowledge whatever Allah—glorified be He—has willed (2); it is not, however, the totality of His knowledge.

Statements of this kind abound in the words of Imām Aḥmad. Al-Khallāl (3) relates from Abū al-Ḥārith (4) who said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: “The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, uncreated. Whoever claims that the Qur’an is created has committed disbelief, for he is asserting that Allah’s knowledge is created and that He possessed no knowledge until He created it.”

Likewise it is reported (5) from Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Hāshimī (6), who said: “My father and I entered upon Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. My father asked him, ‘O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, what is your view regarding the Qur’an?’ He replied, ‘The Qur’an is from Allah’s knowledge, and whoever says that any part of Allah’s knowledge is created (7) has disbelieved.’”

He made this point because some among the Jahmiyyah claim that part of Allah’s knowledge is created and part is uncreated, and they may say: Even if Allah has made the Qur’an part of His knowledge, some of that is created.