someone who does not understand, so that he can deceive him into abandoning his religion and confront him with arguments he cannot comprehend. His argument would then appear to prevail, allowing him to declare it lawful to shed that person’s blood.”’

He said:

“Al-Ma’mūn then turned to him and said: ‘Answer ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s question. He has set aside his own position and doctrine to debate you on the basis of yours, using what you claimed to understand well and to be able to establish your argument against him.’

“Bishr replied: ‘I have answered him, but he is being obstinate.’

“Al-Ma’mūn said: ‘ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz will accept nothing from you but one of the three alternatives.’

“He replied: ‘This demand is even more exacting than his demand for the text of revelation. I have nothing beyond the answer I have already given him.’”

He said:

“He then turned toward al-Ma’mūn and said: ‘ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, explain and clarify this question yourself, and leave Bishr aside, for he has been unable to answer from any angle.’

“I replied: ‘Certainly. I asked him whether the speech of Allah Most High is created. He said: “Yes.” I then explained what necessarily follows from this position: he must accept one of three alternatives—that Allah created His speech within Himself, that He created it in something other than Himself, or that He created it as something subsisting independently in its own right.

“‘If he says, “Allah created His speech within Himself,” this is impossible. He can find no basis for such a claim in analogy, reasoned inquiry, or rational understanding. For Allah cannot be a locus for things that come into existence; nothing created can be within Him; nor can He be deficient such that something is added within Him when He creates it. Exalted is Allah above that—Mighty, Majestic, and Supremely Great!