creation and action, and through which created beings come into existence, cannot be created, nor can a created being possess anything like it.

The proof that it is speech unlike the speech of created beings is that it is inimitable, whereas their speech is not. Were all created beings to unite to produce the like of one of its surahs or one of its verses, they would fail and be unable to do so.”

[Abū al-Hasan al-Karajī’s Statements in Chapters on Fundamentals]

Shaykh Abū al-Hasan Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Karajī al-Shāfi‘ī said in his book, which he entitled Chapters on Fundamentals, as Transmitted from the Eminent Imams. He mentioned twelve imams: al-Shāfi‘ī, Mālik, al-Thawrī, Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Awzā‘ī, al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, al-Bukhārī, Abū Zur‘ah, and Abū Hātim.

He then said in it:

“I heard Imam Abū Mansūr Muhammad ibn Ahmad say: ‘I heard Imam Abū Bakr ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad say: “I heard Abū Hāmid al-Isfarāyīnī say: ‘My position, and that of al-Shāfi‘ī and the jurists of the various cities, is that the Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated, and whoever says it is created is a disbeliever. Gabriel conveyed the Quran after hearing it from Allah Most High; the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, heard it from Gabriel; and the Companions heard it from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is what we recite with our tongues, what is between the two covers, and what is in our hearts—heard, written, memorized, and inscribed—and every single letter of it—such as bā’ and tā’—is the speech