Dirham, for he alleged that Allah never spoke to Moses nor took Abraham as an intimate friend—exalted is Allah far above what al-Jaʿd has dared to say. He then came down from the pulpit and slaughtered him (1).

With that, the tumult abated and the flame of this innovation was extinguished. Yet its banner was next hoisted by al-Jahm ibn Ṣafwān (2) (d. 128 AH).

The Shaykh (3), may Allah have mercy on him, writes: “Al-Jahm ibn Ṣafwān adopted the notion from al-Jaʿd. He went so far as to deny that Allah speaks. Later, wanting to ingratiate himself with the Muslims, he conceded the word ‘speech’ but claimed: ‘His speech is created in some locus, like the air or the leaves of trees.’”

Allah then set Muslim ibn Aḥwaz against al-Jahm, and he killed him.

After the two of them, the one who revived this heresy was Bishr ibn Ghiyāth al-Marrīsī (4) (d. 219 AH). He renewed the claim that the Quran is created; he had formerly been a Jewish cloth-dyer (5).

ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī (6) states: “The matter lay buried and forgotten until the scholars passed away, the jurists grew scarce, and a generation arose from the sons of Jews and Christians—people like Bishr ibn Ghiyāth al-Marrīsī and his peers. They began dabbling in the issue and disclosed parts of it. The people of religion and piety shunned them, branded them unbelievers, and the Chief Judge of the day, Abū Yūsuf, even contemplated seizing and punishing them, whereupon al-Marrīsī fled from him (7)…"