Al-Khallāl also transmits from Abū ʿUbayd, who said:

A man once remarked (1): “Allah has not created any heaven or earth greater than Āyat al-Kursī; does this not prove that it is created?”

Abū ʿUbayd replied:

“He merely said, ‘Allah has not created any heaven or earth greater than Āyat al-Kursī.’ Thus he informed us that the heavens and the earth are among created things, while he informed us that Āyat al-Kursī—which is one of His attributes—is greater than those magnificent created beings.

Al-Khallāl further relates from Aḥmad ibn al-Qāsim, who said:

Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal] commented on the report, ‘Allah has not created any heaven or earth or such-and-such greater….’ I told them: here the act of creation pertains to the heavens, the earth, and these entities—not to the Quran—

because the wording is, ‘Allah has not created any heaven or earth,’ and there is no mention in this context of the Quran being created.

Al-Bukhārī states in his book Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād (2): “Al-Humaydī narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us; Ḥuṣayn narrated from Muslim ibn Ṣubayḥ, from Shatīr ibn Shakl (3), from ʿAbd Allāh (4), who said: ‘Allah has not created any earth, heaven, Paradise, or Hell greater than Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa al-Ḥayy al-Qayyūm (Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer)’ (5).”