Chapter Two: A Study of Certain Questions

The Ordeal Concerning the Claim that the Quran Is Created

Before we address the issue of the createdness of the Quran, the various opinions about it, and the sound position supported by both transmitted and rational proofs, it is essential to speak about the heresy of claiming that the Quran is created—when it arose, who championed it, and what the leading scholars endured in striving to extinguish it and to clarify the truth in the light of the Quran and the sunnah. The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—often touches on these matters throughout this book and in the course of his debates with opponents.

Therefore I deemed it appropriate to discuss the topic, even if only briefly, and I say:

The innovation of asserting that the Quran is created was first propagated in Islam, as the Shaykh (1) and others have pointed out, by al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham (2) (d. 124 AH).

Abu al-Qasim al-Lalikaʾi (3) reports from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hatim, who said: “I heard my father say: ‘The first to introduce the doctrine of the createdness of the Quran was al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham; he declared it in the year twenty-something after one hundred [AH].’”

When his affair became public among the Muslims, Khalid ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Qasri (4)—then governor of Iraq—pursued him until he apprehended him. On the day of ʿEid al-Adha he delivered a sermon, saying: “O people, offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept your offerings—for I shall sacrifice al-Jaʿd ibn….”