thus affirming that the Quran itself, however it is conveyed, is uncreated, without adding anything that might imply that people’s actions and attributes are uncreated.

Each party—those who denied and those who affirmed uncreatedness in the matter of recitation—came to attribute its own position to Ahmad. Concerning them, al-Bukhārī said in his book Khalq al-Af‘āl (The Creation of Actions):

“Each of these two parties attributes its own position to Ahmad, and they understand his statement because of the subtlety of its meaning.”

This division then became an inherited legacy among the followers of the two parties. One party maintained that uttering the Quran is uncreated, agreeing with Abū Hātim al-Rāzī, Muhammad ibn Dāwūd al-Missīsī, and others like them, such as Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mandah and his household, Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Hāmid, Abū Nasr al-Sijzī, Abū Ismā‘īl al-Ansārī, Abū Ya‘qūb al-Furāt al-Harawī, and others.

Another group maintained the opposite position without adopting the doctrine of Ibn Kullāb.