He heard someone say, “My recitation of the Qur’an and my utterance of the Qur’an—reciting the Qur’an is separate from the Qur’an, and uttering it is likewise separate.” The speaker imagined that each of the two is detached from the Qur’an itself, yet that is not the case. His phrases “of the Qur’an” and “by the Qur’an” merely single the Qur’an out from other texts, for a reader may recite something besides the Qur’an. This is one of the subtlest and most intricate matters we have treated; reflect on it carefully until you grasp it, and I shall make it clearer still.

Picture a man named Muḥammad reading aloud, and another man overhears him. ʿAbd Allāh asks, “What did he read?” Zayd replies, “The Qur’an.” Likewise, someone says, “How excellent Muḥammad’s pronunciation is!” ʿAbd Allāh then asks, “What was he pronouncing?” and Zayd answers, “The Qur’an.” In both instances the word “Qur’an” serves only to specify and clarify, and each of the two terms—recitation and utterance—contains two elements: an action and the Qur’an itself.

Is faith created or not?

Some who profess to follow the Sunnah have claimed that faith (īmān) is uncreated, fearing that they would otherwise be obliged to say that “There is no deity but Allah”—the very summit of faith—is created. To avoid this, they embraced a monstrous notion and turned human acts into uncreated divine attributes—exalted is Allah far above that.

Glory be to Allah! How astonishing this is, and even more astonishing are those who say it. People have grown so accustomed to the term “uncreated” that I almost imagine someone declaring the Throne uncreated or the Footstool uncreated and finding supporters who style themselves “people of the Sunnah.” What a calamity Jahm—may Allah curse him—has wrought upon his followers through his doctrine and upon his opponents through the rancor it has bred.

I have also heard of people who maintain that the human soul is uncreated, arguing from Allah’s words about Adam: “and I breathed into him of My Spirit.”