and their followers, as well as groups of early theologians and jurists, such as Abū Mu‘ādh al-Tūmanī, Zuhayr al-Atharī, Dāwūd al-Asbahānī, and others, as al-Ash‘arī reported concerning them in al-Maqālāt. He said:

“All who hold that the Quran is uncreated—such as ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘īd ibn Kullāb—and those who say that it is temporally originated—such as Zuhayr al-Atharī, meaning also Dāwūd al-Asbahānī—and those who say that it is a temporal occurrence—such as Abū Mu‘ādh al-Tūmanī—maintain that the Quran is neither a body nor an accident.”

As for the statements of the leading scholars of jurisprudence, hadith, Sufism, Quranic exegesis, and other Muslim scholars, as well as those of the Companions and those who followed them in righteousness, al-Rāzī’s words indicate that he was not acquainted with them.

[Another statement by al-Rāzī]

Our purpose here is to explain the full force of the argument advanced by those who deny this. After mentioning the disagreement, he said:

“The argument on which we rely is this: Whatever can subsist in the Creator, exalted is He, must either be an attribute of perfection or not. If it is an attribute of perfection, it is impossible for it to be