Do you not see that when someone recites “Say: He is Allah, the One,” it is not the surah itself that comes to him, but its reward? For we recite the Quran, and the reward of the Quran comes and says, “My Lord!” Allah’s speech does not come, nor does it change from one state to another.’

As for his statements during the disputation, al-Khallāl reported in The Book of the Sunnah: “ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā informed me that Hanbal told them that