It has been reliably transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd by trustworthy narrators that he said:
“Whoever swears by the Quran incurs an oath for every single verse, and whoever disbelieves in one letter of it has disbelieved in it altogether.” (1)
The Muslims are unanimously agreed that no expiation is incurred for an oath sworn upon something created; therefore, Ibn Masʿūd regarded the Quran as an attribute of Allah, not as one of His creations. The meaning of that earlier report is simply that among all created things nothing is more excellent than Āyat al-Kursī (the Throne Verse); it does not mean that the verse itself is created. (2) It is like the statement, “Allah is greater than everything,” although everything referred to is created, whereas Allah—exalted is He—is uncreated. This is precisely how the leading scholars explained the words of Ibn Masʿūd.
Al-Khallāl records in his book al-Sunnah (3) that Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah cited the commonly circulated narration, “Allah has not created any heaven, earth, or mountain greater than Āyat al-Kursī,” and said (4): Ibn ʿUyaynah (5) maintained that its correct wording is, “Allah has not created anything at all but that Āyat al-Kursī is greater than whatever He created.”
And the sheikh will clarify in his forthcoming discussion the meaning intended by this report.
See al-Asma’ wa’l-Sifat by al-Bayhaqī, p. 288.
(1) Its isnād was already cited above, p. 292.
(2) In the printed edition it reads “li’annahā” (“because it”). This is a significant error that distorts the meaning.
(3) I did not find this transmission, nor what follows in al-Khallāl’s al-Sunnah. Perhaps these reports are in the remainder of the manuscript, to which I have no access.
And the statement of Ibn ‘Uyaynah is recorded by al-Tirmidhī in his Sunan (vol. 5, p. 161), Book of the Virtues of the Qur’an—chapter “What Is Reported Concerning Sūrah Āl ‘Imrān”, no. 2884, in these words:
“Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl narrated to us; al-Ḥumaydī narrated to us; Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah narrated—in the exegesis of the hadith of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd—who said: ‘God did not create any heaven or earth greater than the Ayat al-Kursī (Verse of the Throne).’ Sufyān said: ‘Because the Ayat al-Kursī is the word of God, and the word of God is greater than God’s creation of the heavens and the earth.’”
(4) The word “sāqiṭah” is omitted in manuscripts s and ṭ.
(5) In manuscript s it reads “ʿaynah.” This is an error; its identification was given above.